The Last of the Agents Pt I: The Legacy
by Staligarde
Summary: When a secret organization is on the verge of extinction, a young boy is found who will have to carry on the dying legacy as one of the last of the Agents, and he soon finds out that he gets a lot more than he bargained for...
1. The Discovery

Disclaimer: I do not own Maplestory, except for the cast that I made and the fic.

The Last of the Agents

A Maplestory Fanfic

Author's Note: This is my first fanfic, so if there are any spelling/ grammar errors, or anything you think I should work on, feel free to tell me.

Prologue

The battle with the Black Magician. One of the greatest fights that ever took place in the history of the Maple World. However, few know the truth about the battle…

The three dressed in black crouched down simultaneously on one knee, and fired there weapons—oversized black rifles, each with a scope which they had looked through for complete accuracy. Massive rays of light erupted out them, so large that one would wonder how a weapon of that size could create something that huge. All three shafts of light struck the Black Magician. There was a huge explosion and an enormous cloud of smoke. Each of the three carried other weapons with them: a dagger and claw, a bow and crossbow, and a gun and knucklers. Ridley was behind them, and cast a spell—it was not an attack, but more of a support. There were glowing circles on the ground and lines, having the same glow, running along the ground, connecting them, different from the type of light that come from their weapons. Their eyes were closed (though nobody could tell due to their sunglasses.)

Aran (his other comrades had fallen) charged forward with Combat Step and, pole-arm in both hands, and shouted "Triple Swing!" The Black Magician easily block two of the strikes, and side-stepped the third one. However, this was only a charge up. "Final Charge!" he screamed, knocking the Black Magician backwards a few feet.

"Rolling Spin!" He pushed the Black Mage backwards even more, and stunning the necromancer at the same time. He leapt away as the three dressed in black shouted something, but their voices were quickly drowned out by the 3 resulting explosions of the attacks, one after another. This only continued to stun the Black Magician, giving the ones dressed in black time to cast another attack, together. The sky was suddenly filled with ballistics, and rained down upon the Black Magician. The Black Magician muttered something as a black wall appeared between him and the ballistics, but the wall, which was supposed to be able to block the attack of even a million Genesis combined, was unable to stop this attack. The force of the impacts and explosions tore apart the defense; in fact, they were so powerful that the force of it shook Victoria Island itself and caused part of it to separate into what is known as Ossyria today.

When the smoke dissipated, the Black Magician was still alive.

Time was running out.

Ridley had been stepped concentrating and gathering energy for a massive arte, his focus so intense that he virtually had no idea what was currently happening. All he knew was that he had to prepare the spell. He stepped forward and cast his spell, sealing up the Black Magician. The Black Magician, however, was fast enough to cast two spells simultaneously, one making the seal temporary, not permanent, and the other killing Ridley along with the ones dressed in black.

For some strange reason (perhaps it was because Aran was more like a Warrior and had Snow Charge activated) Aran was trapped in a glacier and teleported to some far off land.

And the mass of land that would come to be known as Ossyria slowly drifted away…

Ch.1: The Discovery

The boy stared timidly at his teacher.

"Are you sure you want to be a bowman?" Athena asked. The boy nodded, too shy to speak. He had a pair of black eyes that went along with his disheveled, jet-black hair, which rippled slightly when he nodded. Although Athena wasn't completely positive, the boy seemed to be a few years older than when people usually would've taken their first job advancement; instead of being 10 or 11 years old, he seemed like a teenager; perhaps 13 or even 14 years of age.

"You know, the skills of a bowman are much harder to master than other classes skills."

The boy nodded again. If he was sure of anything, it was that every teacher said the exact same words.

"Very well," she said. "Give me your hand," She muttered a few ancient words, and the boy could feel a power surge through his body. They opened their eyes at the same time.

"Use your gift wisely," she said. For some reason, she felt that he wasn't just a bowman. She had no idea how right she was. She handed him a beginner's bow and some arrows. The boy managed to sputter a "Thank You," and rushed out, no doubt to get his first kill as a bowman. Then, through the window, she saw what seemed like a flash, or reflection of sunlight, from his hand.

"It's nothing important", she told herself, and went back to her work. As for this, she had no idea how wrong she was.

-X-

The boy ran through Henesys towards the hunting grounds. He seemed very eager to try out his new skills. There were snails, snails, and more snails, moving around lazily, minding their own business. The boy looked at them. They were too weak for him. He climbed to the top, aiming at a pig.

"Arrow Blow!" he shouted, killing a pig in one hit. He smiled. It was the first time he had killed a monster in one hit in the Henesys hunting grounds. Suddenly, there was a shout of "Lucky Seven!" as two stars flew towards another monster he was just about to kill. He turned around to see an assassin. He didn't seem to have much dexterity, but his power sure made up for that. He ignored the boy as he continued to kill pigs. A show off, since he obviously wouldn't train on such monsters for his level. The boy decided to ignore him, too. After all, they could share this area. He went down a floor to train on the snails. However, the assassin followed him, killing every monster that he was just about the attack. The dexless assassin smiled evilly, and he continued to kill steal the young boy. The boy decided to go back to Henesys and rest and let the assassin have the entire hunting ground. "Won't make much of a difference if I'm here or not", he thought. He headed back. He could read the expression on the assassin's face: Dexterity is not important. It is power; that is what's important." From that day on, he disliked anyone with no dexterity.

The next day, he decided to go to Pig Beach. At least it wasn't as populated, so it was less likely that some other dexless Assassin would kill steal him. When he arrived, he saw a warrior training there.

_Oh well_ he thought. At least the warrior seemed nice, even from a distance. _And he sure isn't dexless._

He went down. The warrior ignored him at first. He didn't even acknowledge his presence. He just kept on training. But there was a part of Pig Beach that he now didn't train in, which was the part the boy was training in. _He sure is a nice guy, even though I haven't even talked to him yet_. When the boy finally leveled, the warrior broke the silence.

"Gratz", he said. The boy looked surprised. He stared at the older person. He had black hair and black eyes, just like himself. "I remember the first time I leveled after my first job advancement. You know, this place used to be a lot more dangerous than it is now. And you killed so fast. How did you do it?" The boy finally spoke, but didn't answer his question yet.

"What's your name?"

"My name is Phil," the boy replied. "Nice to meet you. I'm Brent" He asked again "How did you kill so fast?"

"I killed fast?" he said, looking confused. "Yeah," said Brent "You kill really fast for your level." Then he saw he was wearing something on his hand. "Is that a claw?" he asked. Phil looked at his hand. "Isn't this a glove?" _I must be seeing things, thought Brent_. A bowman can't equip a claw. There was a sudden shout of "Haste!" and "Lucky Seven!" The two turned around to see a dexless Assassin. Phil almost immediately recognized the person. It was the same one that had kill-stealed him the other day—same armor, same height, same attitude, and same smirk on his face. Neither of the two had the power to stand up against the Assassin.

He began speaking, but it was hard to determine who he was actually speaking to. In fact, he didn't seem to be speaking to anyone at all.

"Plenty of pigs around here. Excellent source of experience. But first, I have to get rid of a small nuisance."

He turned towards them. This time when he spoke, it was obvious he was talking to them.

"I've got two stars. One for each of you." He flashed a sinister grin, along with a pair of Ilbis.

Brent stepped forward with his shield raised, and muttered "Power Guard." Meanwhile, Phil was behind Brent, and still bewildered. He also felt that he wasn't going down without a fight, and loaded two arrows into his Battle Crossbow. He didn't notice, though, that he already had another two arrows loaded. There was a sudden shout of "Lucky Seven!" and Brent braced himself for the impact. There was a clang as metal struck metal. However, the stars hadn't struck his shield. He looked around, and saw four Ilbis lying on the ground a few feet away from him in a perfect two by two formation.

The assassin whipped around, furious. Brent and Phil also turned around to look. There, they saw a female assassin. This one was wearing armor accordingly to her level. Just then, all three of them realized she must have thrown another pair Ilbis. That clang was when her stars struck had struck the dexless assassin's stars.

"You again!" he shouted in a menacing tone, the words laced with poison, as he stared at her, still furious. If looks could kill, then all the pigs there would be dead, along with Phil and Brent.

"Stop kill stealing," she snapped at the dexless assassin.

"'Stop kill stealing,'" he said in a mocking voice. "And why should I?"

She gave no response. "You still fight for the weak," he spat. "You chose the path of dexterity. The new path, the prevailing path, is what every assassin is and should take. And since you fight for the weak…" there was a slight pause. "YOU ARE WEAK!" he roared. All the pigs scurried away in fear from his shout. "You could have been a prodigy, becoming more powerful than anyone in history. Maybe even me. You made the biggest mistake in your entire life. You are no longer worthy of living!"

Without warning, the two were suddenly engaged in a kill stealing duel, moving faster than the Bowman and Warrior thought was humanely possible, with stars and knives flying in every direction one could think of, and dozens of shouts of "Lucky Seven!" The two first jobbers could only stand and watch.

Then, out of nowhere, an iron hog jumped out. The two assassins glanced at each other, and both started attacking it. However, the dexless assassin could only land a few hits on the hog, while the female hit it every time. When the hog died, the dexless assassin stared angrily at her.

"I'll get you next time," he said.

"Come back when you actually have dexterity," she retorted.

He gave a mutter of "Who needs dexterity?" and disappeared. Then the newcomer turned to face the first jobbers.

"Hi," she said. "My name is Evelyne. What's yours?" The two were, to say the least, surprised. It was an Assassin that had fought off, well, an Assassin.

"My name is Brent," said the swordsman. "This here is Phil"

She smiled. "Hi… Bowman and Warrior, huh?" she said as threw back her hair. She was already charismatic; that motion added to her attractiveness.

"Yeah," he replied. "He's a first job, I'm second."

The two studied her for a moment. She was slightly shorter than the both of them, but somehow gave the appearance of being taller than Brent. Her most striking appearance though, was her long, pink hair that reached her waist; there was enough of it that made her hair seem as if it were cape. She had bright, blue eyes that stood out as part of her hair dangled in front of her. She had a smile that could coax any boy to do anything for her. "Well, good luck with your training," and she left as suddenly as she came, so fast that the two wondered if what had happened was real or not.

An uneasy silence followed. Then, Brent said, "Wanna train together?"

Phil smiled. "Sure."

Phil was obviously a lower level than Brent. It was also evident that Phil was a Crossbowman—the Battle Crossbow he carried signified that he was at least level 18, but only 21 at the highest. Otherwise, he would be carrying a Balanche. The fact that Brent had a Red Cross Shield and a Cutlus proved that Brent was at least 35.

As they the two were happily attacking pigs with no other disturbances, Brent suddenly saw two Subis flying through the air. But they did not come from any Assassin. They came from…Phil?

Brent suddenly stopped attacking and turned to look at his partner. He saw Phil loading a pair of arrows into his Battle Crossbow, and suddenly freezing just when he was about to fire.

A second later, Brent saw Phil resume attacking monsters with his Crossbow. Confused, Brent asked Phil "Weren't you just throwing stars at the pigs?"

"I was throwing stars?"

"That's what I saw."

Phil had a confused look on his face. "I though I was shooting arrows the entire time."

This put Brent into an even more confused state than Phil. _He doesn't seem like the type that would lie. Am I hallucinating or something?_

Placing that thought aside, the two continued to train on the pigs. No more stars flew through the air, and no one else came in to harass or kill-steal them.

-X-

Kyrin looked at the boy. "So, you would like to advance as a brawler?" she asked.

"Yeah," replied the boy.

"Very well. First, you must collect 15 Potent Crystals from the Octopirates in the room I am about to send you to. When you have gathered 15, bring them to me." The boy nodded, and headed off to fight the monsters. The boy was midway through his test when Kyrin noticed something strange. He didn't have a knuckler equipped on his left hand, like he did on his right. Instead, it was some sort of glove. But Kyrin knew it wasn't a glove. It looked more like a… claw?

_Impossible_, she thought. _A pirate can't equip a claw._ Then she saw something else: she saw him pull out a crossbow, and then firing several arrows that hit their targets with deadly accuracy. "What the…? This is impossible."

He was done very quickly, and handed over the 15 crystals.

"You have finished this test faster than anyone I've ever seen," she said, not yet mentioning what she saw.

"I have?" he asked. He looked confused.

"Yes. No one else has ever done it in record time of 60 seconds. And now, I'll advance you as a brawler." She held his hand, and there was a flash of light.

"You are now officially a Brawler," she said, and handed him a skill book. The boy thanked her and left, no doubt to try his new skills.

_Something isn't right,_ she thought. "_He… already has a large health capacity, and even a large mana capacity. What's up with that?_" She didn't want to do it, but called a meeting for the next day.

-X-

The five leaders sat at the conference table in the Nautilus Port.

"So what was it that you wanted to discuss about?" asked Athena Pierce

Kyrin turned to face her foster mother. "Do you know about a boy named Phil?" she asked, and held up a picture of him.

The other three teachers also turned to look at her, nodded in unison, and all started talking at once.

"Why yes. He just became a crossbowman the day before."

"Impossible" said Sitting Bull. "That boy… he turned into a Fighter yesterday!"

"You're kidding," said Grendel. "He was the newest Ice-Lightning wizard!"

"He became a Bandit yesterday!" exclaimed Dark Lord

"Well," Kyrin said slowly. "He took my test yesterday and became a Brawler"

The other four stared at her, lost for words.

"Where is he now?" asked Athena, breaking the silence.

"Asleep in a bedroom of the Nautilus" Kyrin replied. "But…" she paused for a moment.

"He is already level 35"

"WHAT?" shouted Athena as she suddenly stood up. "He went up five levels in two days?"

Kyrin nodded. "And I have a plan for him." She held up a small card.

"No," whispered Athena. "He is only level 35. You're not planning on…"

"And why not?" cut in Kyrin. "He has the ability. And besides; isn't this what Dr. Kim is looking for? Someone of his caliber?"

Athena Pierce looked uncomfortable. "Are you sure about this?" she asked.

"I'm positive," she replied.

"So when do you plan to send him?" asked Dark Lord.

"Tomorrow," said Kyrin.

"And how do you plan to tell him about this?" asked Sitting Bull.

"You'll see" Kyrin smiled. "You'll see."

-X-

The boy woke up and got dressed. He had a bagful of equipment, and slowly, one by one, put them on. It was just going to be another ordinary day of training. Or so he thought. He bought a couple potions from Gali, and just when he was about to leave the Nautilus, when someone called him. He turned around. It was Kyrin.

"Hi" he said, smiling.

"Good morning Phil" she said. "I have a quest for you."

"What is it?" he asked, wondering what kinds of items he would have to collect for her this time.

"Come, and I'll show you" she replied.

He followed her to the Nautilus control room.

"Actually, this is some serious training. You have taken the second job advancement of every class."

"I have?"

"Yes, and you will receive some special training. This here is Dr. Kim," and pointed at the monitor.

"You are to be sent to the Omega Sector through the warp portal,"

"I've never heard of the Omega Sector. Where is it?"

She pulled out a map of Ludas Lake, and pointed to the left island.

"Right here. It is at the bottom of Eos Tower."

"But I thought Eos Tower was off limits!"

"It is. But this is important, and you have the qualifications to go there for training."

"So I'm going to have to get through the guards at Eos Tower."

"No. You're going to get to that island in another way. Through that portal." Kyrin pointed at the Warp Portal.

"But… my friends. Can I at least say good-bye to them?"

"No. You cannot tell them any of this. All of this is classified."

"But what will you do when they notice I'm gone and look for me?"

"I'll think of something."

He nodded. "So you want me to go through that portal?"

"Yes. You will be sent to the Omega Sector, and your training will begin." Kyrin handed him a card. "This is a warp card. It is required to go through that portal."

He walked over to it. "Good luck," said Kyrin.

He placed the card in the slot, entered the portal, and disappeared.

A/N: This was at first about how with white scrolls, 50 LUK Sauna Robes, 30 attack stars, and a Maple Skanda, that nobody with the resources had a reason not to make a dexless assassin. Although this isn't the direction the story is going anymore. At least, not after a million revisions that I made to my story (and to the game itself made by Nexon/Wizet, I guess).


	2. Welcome to the Omega Sector

The Last of the Agents Ch. 2: Welcome to the Omega Sector

"This place is so… awesome!"

These were the first words that Phil said when he reappeared in the Omega Sector HQ, Command Center through the warp portal. The Command Center was unlike anything he had ever seen. Resisting the urge to press all the hi-tech looking buttons and flipping the switches, he turned toward the men in lab coats and asked "I'm at the Omega Sector, right? What do I do from here?"

The one that looked older and more experienced replied, "Yes; go outside through the regular looking doors and Agent Marco will meet you."

Phil walked through the "ordinary looking" and came outside. On the ground, everything was normal, unlike Phil's first thoughts. Green grass. But turning around, looking at where he had come out of, he saw big buildings—one with a missile silo, another with a huge radar on top, and yet another with a giga-watt laser. Looking around some more, he saw a group of soldiers dressed in blue, standing side by side against the wall of one of the buildings. They were standing so still that at first he thought they were statues.

"Hello there, Phil."

He spun around to face, well, _him_. He had walked up behind him so quietly that he hadn't heard him.

It was Agent Marco.

He was dressed in a black suit, wore sunglasses, and carried a silver, hi-tech looking weapon that looked like some sort of rifle, just as "cool" as the rest of the Omega Sector. But he knew Agent Marco's weapon had capabilities far beyond what he could imagine.

"Welcome to the Omega Sector."

For a moment, he was lost for words. Agent Marco looked so—formal, so professional. Here he was standing right in front of him, while himself was only level 35, barely started his training phase of the second job.

"You're not going to stay in the second job for long," said Agent Marco as if he had read his mind.

Pointing in the direction that Phil was facing, Marco said, "Allow me to show you around this place." Without waiting for a reply, Marco walked in that direction. Phil automatically followed.

"The building you see here is most of the Omega Sector. The HQ, where the warp portal was located, is the primary lab. The two scientists in lab coats you saw were Dr. Kim and his assistant, Professor Porter."

Continuing towards the side where Ludibrium was, he pointed at the soldiers. "Those men in the uniforms are the soldiers. They are placed here in case of an alien attack."

"Aliens? There're aliens here?"

"Yes. I will get to that in a moment. That man up there is General Maestro. As from his title, he is the General of the Army. That other man up there is Jr. Officer Medin. He is known for being extremely strict—sometimes even stricter than General Maestro."

Moving even closer to Ludibrium, Agent Marco said, "That stretch of land is where most of the smaller radars—at least, smaller compared to the one on the building—are placed. That place is known as the Safety Zone." They moved away from Ludibrium and towards an electrical wall.

"You may be wondering about why there is an electrical wall. This is where I get into the aliens. A decade or so ago, two strange species of aliens appeared in places called Kulan Field and Boswell Field. Those fields were originally training grounds. They are now populated by aliens.

"One species of aliens resemble the purple, three-eyed octopi that you see in Kerning City every now and then. Here though, they where space helmets, carry ray guns, and/or ride in machines. The other is the conventional, sci-fi aliens with the 'take me to your leader' and what not. They are gray instead of the green, though. This is why they are called 'Grays'. The area right outside is called 'Off-Limits,' and has the purple octopi aliens.

"So I'm not allowed to go there?"

"Yes and no. For now I would advise you to not go in there yet. The main reason it is called Off-Limits is that it is off-limits to most personnel. The soldiers are allowed, but usually only under strict orders."

"So if those, uh, aliens will kill me in seconds," asked Phil, looking uncomfortable, "why am I even here?"

"I never said they would kill you in seconds," replied Marco. "Sure, they will kill you if you stand idly by and letting them attack you." He had meant that as a joke, but there was no humor in his voice whatsoever. "However, if you fight them like you fight any other monster, they shouldn't be too much. And with the training that I have in plan for you, they should be easy experience for you in a few days."

Pausing for a moment, he added, "Luckily and conveniently for us, it seems the weaker the monsters—or rather, aliens—are, the closer they try to get to the Omega Sector, so you won't have to sneak past the killer aliens to get to the suitable ones."

Phil nodded once.

"Your training will begin tomorrow. You better rest up in the bunk." Smiling, he added, "Make yourself at home."

Without another word, he turned around and walked back towards the buildings.

The "bunk" was a full fledged bed. The room itself was larger than any other room he had ever seen in his life—it seemed like the size of three regular rooms in one. Wondering how the facilities of the Omega Sector could contain such a large room, he caught a glance at 16 weapons placed neatly against each other. There was a Traus, , Steel Tower Shield, Blue Counter, Sabertooth, Jacker, Titan, Vaulter 2000, Heckler, Steel Avarice with Steelies, Bazlud, Zeco, Crescent Polearm, Crystal Wand, Hall Staff, Neocora, Traus, and Lunar Shooter. Wondering how the Omega Sector could acquire so many of these weapons, he looked over at a book shelf. It itself could hold at least a hundred books, but the only books there were the 17 or so skill books that he had acquired so far, though not the exact ones he had. Obviously, they were duplicates. He walked over there and picked up the one titled Spearman Techniques. Flipping through it, he saw that everything was exactly the same. Placing it back where it was, he suddenly felt very tired. Yawning for a moment, he then walked back to his bed and literally fell onto it. He thought about everything Agent Marco had told him about this strange, intriguing place. _Missile Silo. Ludibrium. Eos Tower. Radar. Giga-watt laser. Electrical Fence. Aliens. Octopi._

It took quite a while for him to actually fall asleep.

Agent Marco was waiting for him when he came into the dining hall. "Good morning. I trust you had a goodnight's sleep?" he asked.

Phil nodded. "Yes," Phil said, with his mouth still full of toast.

Agent Marco gave him a strange look, and then said "When you're done, I want you to come outside."

Phil gave him another nod.

When Phil came out of the facility and onto the "green grass," Agent Marco was waiting for him.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked,

Marco thought for a moment, and then replied "run to the position immediately before the Omega Sector Safety Zone, then back, without using any skills, like dash, teleport, or haste. I'll time you."

Phil took off a moment later, and returned panting heavily. "Not bad," said Agent Marco. "For your age, you run quite a fast pace." Marco looked at him. "But don't forget to breathe while running."

Phil nodded weakly, still panting. "I want you to run again," Agent Marco told Phil. "And this time remember to breathe." Phil nodded and ran again.

Phil ran about 10 more laps. After that Agent Marco told him, "You can have a little break right now. We will begin each day with a dozen laps to build up those legs. We also need to increase your dexterity. This will help you become an Agent."

"What exactly… is… an… Agent?" asked Phil, panting hard.

"You see this 'cool looking,' as you probably would say, weapon here? This is one of the main marks of an Agent. In the past, many centuries ago, Agents were the protectors of the world, the guardians. They were known for their speed, dexterity, and stealth."

"They sound like thieves to me, though."

"Ah, yes, but that is only the superficial part of an Agent. Along with that, they are also known for their strictness."

_Strictness? What have I gotten myself into?_

"There's more," Agent Marco continued. "You see, an Agent has a set of these skills associated with this weapon, plus a few that aren't. However, each needed at least two more sets of skills; they were, to say the least, eclectic. That was one of the primary definitions of an Agent. Usually in their own job. For example, a Thief could be both a Bandit and an Assassin—that person could use both a dagger and a claw equally well, possessing the deadliness of close combat and the superiority of long range fighting. They could also use a set of Agent skills with this weapon, known as a Laser Rifle.

"Only when the 'Agents' reach level 70, their third job, do they become true Agents. In the meantime, they are just trainees."

"So I'm currently a trainee?"

"Yes. But, as I've already said before, I doubt you will stay second job for long. Anyway, Jr. Officer Medin has a task for you. Your task is to go up Eos Tower, and bring back 100 toy drums from Drum Bunnies." That task didn't take much longer than 15 minutes, taking into account the tedious climbing. When he returned, Agent Marco counted out the 100 toy drums he had told to get, though Phil had actually brought back 112.

"That was quick," muttered Agent Marco. "When you were up there, did you see any of these?" Agent Marco held up a picture of a Block Golem.

"Yes."

"Now I want you to bring back 20 yellow toy blocks. These are to be handed over to Dr. Kim. And they will be put to a good use. This time, however, you have 30 minutes to complete it. Starting… now."

Phil dashed up Eos Tower. Within 20 minutes, he was back, lugging the mass of yellow behind him. Wiping the sweat off his forward as he placed the blocks in front of Agent Marco, he asked, "How did I do?"

"You finished this in 20 minutes," replied Marco as he counted off the blocks. "And by the way, you actually brought back 24 of these yellow blocks."

Phil groaned. Agent Marco chuckled lightly and said, "Looks like you always go the extra ten miles."

"On the bright side though, you seem to be level 40. Or 41."

"I am?"

Agent Marco looked at him quizzically. "You didn't know you leveled?" Phil shook his head.

"Hmmm… that's strange. Anyway, I think you should go back to your room and rest for now. We're done for the day. The next task will be coming tomorrow."

Phil nodded and went back into the building.

General Maestro and Jr. Officer Medin were watching the entire time. Agent Marco went up to join the two.

"So," said Agent Marco. "What do you think of him?"

"He is unlike anyone I've ever met. I remember training you. The training with him was… different"

"He's level 41," said Agent Marco. "He went up six levels in less than 48 hours. I'm sure it's because of this "training program, but… he says he doesn't know he leveled up. He doesn't know he's level. 41."

"I'm sure he didn't learn the skills of all five classes and wanted to take every one of the paths on purpose," Said Jr. Officer Medin. "He doesn't look like the kind of guy. Besides, remember the face that he made when you told him how the Agents were known for their strictness? And Dr. Kim said that Athena told him that he leveled up five times in two days. Do you think that all this is somehow…connected?"

All three suddenly froze as each arrived at the same thought. "Do you think it's because he has…it?" General Maestro asked slowly. The three of them exchanged looks.

"That may be the most probable reason at this point," replied Agent Marco, equally slowly. "The First Four had it…he may have it as well."

"So he would forget that he leveled up when he has them." Jr. Officer Medin said

"And it also means that, if he hadn't had this handicap, then he would have completed the tasks even faster. Maybe even twice as fast." Agent Marco added.

"This also explains why he brought back extras from both of the assignments," General Maestro said.

(Author's Note: "it" and "them" are two different things, but they _are_ related.)

* * *

><p><em>He climbed up the tower. Suddenly, he froze and lost his grip. Luckily, his descent to the ground was only a few feet, taking minimal damage. Quickly recovering, he wondered how he had ended up on the ground again. He started climbing again. Finally reaching the floor with the Drum Bunnies, he drew his Heckler, one of the weapons he decided to bring along with him.<em>

"_Soul Arrow…Iron Arrow!" A radiant, spinning bolt flew towards the monsters, killing six of them in a row. The other bunnies had noticed him by now, and turned their attention towards him. He fired several Double Shots in succession, killing another three bunnies. Sheathing his crossbow and drawing his Traus and Steel Tower Shield, he shouted "Weapon Booster!" and "Power Guard!" as he repelled the attack of the closest monsters._

"_Ground Smash!" A shockwave of energy tore through the place, striking several of the monsters. Charging forward, he commanded "Slash Blast!" as his weapon sliced several of his targets in half. Another group of bunnies come to face him. Just as he was about to cast another slash blast attack, he froze again, staring straight ahead. The monsters collided head on with him, sending him staggering backwards as he fell onto one of the ledges of a "ladder." Regaining consciousness a few seconds later, he wondered what had just happened, and why his head hurt so badly._

_No matter, he thought. He leapt onto the original platform again and, after casting a quick Heal, he began attacking the enemy once more. I wonder how many drums I have, he thought. Sheathing his sword, he started counting the drums that lay scattered across the platform. 88, 89, 90 …Suddenly freezing again, he stared aimlessly at the wall, unmoving. However, this time there were no monsters in his vicinity. Five seconds later, he resumed counting. 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76. Hmmm… need 24 more._

_He drew his Hall Staff and shouted "Fire Arrow!" as he released the bow string made of fire, aiming at the closest bunny that had emerged, causing it to disintegrate. He then cast a series of thunderbolts, destroying the rest. He counted exactly 24 toy drums. Wow, he thought. How convenient. He quickly placed them in his bag and returned to the Omega Sector._

_His received his next task after the completion of the first. The second was to collect 20 yellow blocks from the Block Golems. Before he left, he was told two things, that one) although the number of items needed was less, the monsters were significantly stronger, and two) he had a time limit of 30 minutes for this task._

_Returning to Eos Tower, he climbed past the Drum Bunnies, which he had fought before, and searched for the Block Golems. The Golems truly were significantly stronger. They started attacking him before he even drew his weapon. Ducking a blow, he drew his Vaulter 2000 and commanded "Power Knock-Back!" slamming his weapon into the nearest Golems and pushed them back several feet. The moment they stopped sliding they began to advance. But even before they stopped moving Phil had cast soul arrow, drew an arrow, and shouted "Arrow Bomb!" The bolt of energy traveled across the area and exploded forcefully against the monsters, stunning them. Phil was just about to launch another Arrow Bomb when he stopped moving and starred at the Golems, even when they had recovered from their shock. The Golem in the lead took a swing and dealt a tremendous blow to him, knocking the weapon out of his hands and doing serious damage to him. When he recovered, he wondered how his weapon ended up half a dozen feet away from him. Putting aside that query, he drew his Traus and retaliated with a power strike and the nearest Golem broke down._

_He drew his Steel Tower and cast "Power Guard!" just as another Golem made an attempt to knock him back, but his shield successfully block it. Casting iron will, he took an intrepid rush and dealt several slash blast attacks to the groups of Golems, in the process gaining more yellow blocks._

_He was suddenly struck by another Golem from behind, and his sword and shield were knocked out of his hands. He himself ended up landing face down on the ground three yards away from where he originally was. The Golem that had caught him by surprise was advancing once more. Thinking fast, he grabbed two of the dozen Steelies he had brought with him and shouted "Lucky Seven!" hurling them at the golem. This time it was the golem that was caught by surprise. Wasting no time, he drew his Hall Staff and commanded "Cold Beam!" as the Golem was once again surprised by a blast of ice. Raising his weapon, he shouted "Holy Arrow!" and he released the "bowstring" as the beam of holy energy struck the golem, and it broke apart._

_Casting a quick Heal, he gathered the scattered yellow blocks along with his weapons and the two knives. He counted 16 blocks. I need four more, he thought._

_Just then, a foursome of Block Golems spawned right in front of him. He drew his Traus once more and launched a series of Slash Blast attacks at his adversaries. Several moments later, the yellow hulking figures crumpled to the ground._

_Collecting the four yellow blocks, he returned to the Omega Sector._


	3. Tedious Training

Ch. 3: Tedious Training

The sun was bright overhead, if not blinding. There were crowds of people moving in and out of the markets of Henesys, as busy as ever. In the masses of people, an Assassin and Cleric, both female, somehow managed to move through the living labyrinth.

"Uh," muttered the Assassin as she fingered the Steelies in her pocket that she had recently found from a Red Drake, though she had no intent to draw them. "I've never seen so many people in Henesys at once in all my life."

"Then why aren't you using Darksight and Haste and get out of this mess?"

"It was your idea to not use any skills, to 'conserve mana and energy'."

"Actually," replied the Cleric. "It was you who told me not to use teleport. You said that you wouldn't be able to catch up to me, even with your crappy haste."

"Crappy?!"

"Yeah. I could teleport right out of this mess if it wasn't for you."

"Just wait till I get flash Jump," retorted the Assassin. "Then we'll see whose skill is 'crappy'."

"Hey look!" someone shouted. "A hot Cleric and Assassin!" Everyone stopped moving and turned their attention to the pair. The two of them froze as well.

The person who drew attention to the two gave a loud whistle. Trying their best to ignore the stares and whistling of all the males, they continued walking in the general direction to Ellinia. "I'm going to get Mystic Door as soon as I can," the Cleric muttered under her breath.

When they finally got out of the crowds and reached the dense growth of trees, the two resumed talking.

"I remember you used to get a lot more attention back then when you wore the Red Night Shift set and the Red Qi Pao, Evelyne." The Cleric said, looking at Evelyne's Mantis set.

Evelyne twirled one of the Steelies on her palm and, looking at her Dark Requierre responded "I remember when you wore the Fairy and Amoria sets. You drew so much attention that it was almost impossible for me to see you, Celina, even with your ridiculously bright blue hair."

Suddenly there were the sounds of Lupins screeching as several bananas were thrown at them. Celina whipped out her Evil Wings fast as lightning, dodging the projectiles, commanded "Shining Ray!" as the whole place was illuminated. When the blinding light disappeared, all the Lupins had fallen dead. Satisfied, the Priest—Cleric no longer—sheathed her staff. Turning to Evelyne, she said "You really need to work on your reflexes. Are you going to become a 'dexless' Assassin? Or Hermit, for this matter?"

Evelyne rolled her eyes. The she said, "Speaking of dex-less… remember about the one guy I told you about?"

"Yeah," replied Celina, as they continued walking. "I'm pretty sure he's getting on everyone one's nerves."

"Well, he's gotten a lot on my nerves."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, recently I just saved two guys—a Warrior and a Crossbowman—from him. At Pig Beach."

"Were they cute?" Celina asked, suddenly interested.

Ignoring her friend's question, she said, "The Crossbowman was—different.

"So he was a lot cuter than the Warrior—or anyone else you've met before?"

"Celina, stop talking like that."

"C'mon, Evelyne. I've known you for years. I know your personality. You would've traded dolls for boys when you became eleven years old."

Finally reaching the dock at Ellinia, the pair realized the ship for Ossyria had just left. The two sat down on a bench and waited for another ship to arrive.

"Well," said Evelyne. "When I saw one of the Crossbowman's hands, it had a strange glove on it."

"Glove? You mean he had a Stormcaster?'

"No. It didn't really seem like a glove. It seemed more like… a claw."

"A claw? Are you sure you weren't hallucinating or something? Or maybe your eyes were playing tricks on you."

"Celina," Evelyne said exasperatedly. "I'm an Assassin. I _wear_ claws. I've seen them nearly all my life."

"A Crossbowman…with a claw. That is strange. Maybe he's a prodigy or something?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Celina." But even before all four words completely left her mouth, she began to doubt herself.

"He seemed pretty nice," Evelyne added.

"And probably cute, too."

"Celina," Evelyne said, giving her a serious look. "I think you're the one who would've traded dolls for boys when becoming eleven years old."

Celina gave her a knowing wink and said, "I _am _four years older than you," just as another airship that was to head for Ossyria arrived, and the two boarded it.

-X-

"You want me to do five dozen push ups just when I've just finished running a dozen laps?!" Phil asked Agent Marco as he wiped sweat off his wet forehead.

"You can do it. You've leveled up faster than anyone I know. Probably faster than anyone in history."

"You're just saying that so you can make me do more exercise," muttered Phil as he began doing pushups.

"Believe me when I say my words of encouragement."

"Why am I doing this, anyway?"

"To prepare you." Agent Marco replied simply.

"Prepare me for what?"

"The future."

"What will…happen…in…the…future?" Phil grunted.

"Nobody knows."

"What if…nothing…happens?"

"Then nothing will happen."

"Then all this will be a waste of our time!" Phil said, finishing the push-ups.

"As they say, 'The pride you gain is worth the gain.'"

"Who said that?" asked Phil as he dusted himself.

Agent Marco didn't reply. Instead, he said "That's enough for now."

"For now?! You mean there's going to be more exercise later?"

Agent Marco nodded. "Go rest up. There's going to be something else for you later. And it's going to be fun."

"Fun?" Phil plopped himself on a nearby chair.

"Oh, and here, take these." Marco fished a number of pills out of his pocket. It didn't seem like any of the Mana Elixir Pills, Warrior Pills, Sniper Pills, or any other pill Phil had seen before.

"Why?"

"They're vitamins," he replied. "They'll be good for you. Boost your energy. Restores your body's stores of electrolytes and everything else."

Phil had no idea what "electrolytes" were, but took them anyway.

On an impulse, he asked "Tell me more about the Agents."

"Very well," said Agent Marco. "As I have already said, they were the guardians, known for their strictness, loyalty, and secretiveness. They were extremely esoteric."

"Secretiveness? Esoteric?"

"Oh, yes. They were a secret organization. Nobody outside the organization knew about them. Nobody knew they even existed. Not even the leaders. You know how there are all those fairy tales?"

His listener nodded. "You see," continued Agent Marco, "Most of it is all sham. At least, the stories were. Many of the heroes really existed. They had most of the abilities that were described in the stories. The monsters and demons, most of them were real as well. However, you could bet that the heroes didn't kill the monsters all by themselves."

"A lot of the time, a hero would be seriously wounded at one point or another. That is when an Agent would come in, do whatever needed to be done, and disappear. Heard but not seen—and sometimes not even heard at all—would do their duty, and return to one of the HQs."

"HQs? You mean there used to be more than one?"

Agent Marco nodded. "There used to be hundreds, perhaps even thousands, dotting the Maple World. All were unknown to the outside world. There is a reason why this place is called the Omega Sector. It is—or was— known as the last HQ and refuge for the Agents."

"How many Agents are there right now?"

Agent Marco gave a long sigh, and replied, sadly," I am currently the last of the Agents."

"You're the last one?"

"Yes. The Agents are bordering on being extinct." For a moment, Phil thought he saw a tear run down Agent Marco's cheek. "That is why you are so important. To me, to everyone—even to those who don't even know about the Agents."

Phil finally understood. All the past, tedious training was for a reason. That was why he had been so hard on him. He wanted him to be the best there is, not just doing it for his own entertainment. He wanted to ensure there was heir to the Agents, to carry on the legacy. If he passed away, there would be virtually no one to train new Agents. General Maestro and Jr. Officer Medin might be able to take his place, but it wouldn't be the same. Nothing would ever be the same. And he would now understand the harsh training that was to come in the future. Marco was doing all this for a reason. And a very important reason.

Agent Marco continued with his speech. "Most of the 'blinding light' or holy ray or something similar that saves the hero or heroes was usually the work of Agents." Standing up, he said, giving Phil a firm look, "So now you know. Go rest up now."

"I hope no Crimson Balrogs come," said Evelyne, starring up into the sky. She looked around nervously for a black ship with spikes that would signify the arrival of the beasts.

"You always say that," replied Celina. "And no Crimson Balrogs have ever appeared."

"That's why I'm saying it," Evelyne said. "So no Crimson Balrogs _will_ appear."

Suddenly, the sky began to be filled with dark clouds. There was a flash of lightning, though, thankfully, was nowhere near the ship. Heavy rain began to fall, and the two rushed inside.

"But pretty much every time you say that, it begins to rain."

"I guess," replied Evelyne.

"You guess?! Look here," said Celina, pulling out a piece of paper. "See, I've recorded the number of times that this has happened. Every time you said that 'I hope no Crimson Balrogs come,' 99.9 percent of the time, rain comes. And out of the 99.9 percent, 36 percent of the time a mild storm came with it. Like this time." Smirking at Evelyne, she added, "though thankfully, none of the times lightning has struck blown up the ship."

"Well, at least a little rain is better than having a bunch of freakin' Crimson Balrogs fly around the ship and send black spheres of energy at you," retorted Evelyne.

"But remember: 99.9 percent of the time it began it rain."

"We haven't even been on this airship a thousand times," mumbled Evelyne.

"Nice calculating."

"I'm not stupid. You think that you Magicians are the smartest people in the world. You people think that all the other classes are inferior in intellect. Well, how do you think us Rogues get our reflexes and agility? And anyway, you can't get 99.9 percent unless we've done this a thousand times, and 999 times it rained.

"I rounded the numbers."

"You can't round percentages like that!"

"Who says so?" Asked Celina as the sound of rain hitting the roof began to increase.

"Magicians…" muttered Evelyne under her breath.

-X-

"Ahh, you're back." Agent Marco said to Phil.

"Yeah, I'm back. What do you want me to do now?"

"For now, I feel like it is time for you to learn Martial Arts—fighting without a weapon. I do not want you to be cornered without a weapon and have no way to retaliate."

"I can already fight without a weapon, can't I?" He then performed several Flash Fist attacks, a Somersault Kick, a Backspin Blow, and a Double Uppercut.

"Yes," replied Marco. "Those moves were certainly part of it. However, it is time to get into more sophisticated fighting of that kind, and also types of attacks that require little to no mana."

Phil looked around, and then nodded. "Okay. So what do I need to know?"

Agent Marco told him. Phil spent the next three hours training relentlessly on everything Agent Marco told him, resting for only a minute or two before resuming training. After about the second hour, Phil was so absorbed in his training and dreams of becoming a martial arts master that he had completely forgotten about Agent Marco or anyone else.

"_Feet apart, Center of Gravity low, Marco had told him."_

"_What?"_

"_It is the average location of the weight of an object. If it exits its base, then it will topple over. This goes for any object. If your Center of Gravity is low, and you have a large base, the harder it will be for someone to push you over."_

_He showed him the stance._

"_Now I want to see you punch."_

_Phil punched the air._

"_That's good," he said. "But you must keep that arm firm in case someone hits you from that side. That way, it can serve as both an offense and a defense._

Agent Marco had moved over to where General Maestro and Jr. Officer Medin were a few minutes after Phil had begun practicing.

"He learns fast, doesn't he?" Agent Marco asked General Maestro and Jr. Officer Medin.

"Indeed. Faster than anyone I've ever known," replied Jr. Officer Medin.

"He seems to be able to learn things in hours that would sometimes take others days."

Agent Marco turned around to take a glance at his student. Phil was doing number of backward double-somersaults in quick succession, and then continued with doing several high kicks. He finished with a chain of cartwheels, and then stopped to rest for a moment. After taking a quick gulp of a Mana Elixir, he returned to practicing anything and everything he was told and was taught, punching and kicking the air at every angle he could.

After another hour of training by himself, Agent Marco went over to him and said "I think you should stop for now."

Phil, who was in the middle of practicing standing on his hands, gave his teacher a strange look.

"Now?" he responded, still upside down.

Marco nodded, as if everything was normal.

Phil suddenly lost his balance and landed flat on his face. He quickly got up and brushed himself of any dirt that had gotten onto him.

"I think you should go back to your room for now."

Phil reluctantly obeyed, and headed back to his room.

"Well, I think it's time for you to out and test the skills you've learned." Agent Marco said to Phil when he came back out. "You seem competent enough in Martial Arts for now.

"Against what?" Phil asked.

"Why, the aliens, of course."

"Already? Uhm, Sir, what level are they?" Phil asked nervously. In fact, he had the word "nervous" written all across his face.

"Well, the weakest one, the Mateons, are level 66."

"66?! So you want me to fight a monster that's more than 20 levels higher than me? I'm only like, 41..."

"Actually, you're 45, to be exact."

"They're still more than 20 levels higher than me."

"You can do it. I have confidence in you."

"What if they kill me?"

"I would never let anything kill you," replied Agent Marco. "Look. I'll be out there with you in Off-Limits. If any of the monsters overwhelm you, I'll be there to save you. Besides, we need more of the Mateon tentacles for research."

Phil replied with a long sigh, and then said, "Alright. What weapon do you want me to use?"

"Whatever you want. Use what suits best."

Phil went to his room and grabbed the Traus along with the Steel Tower Shield, got the Hall Staff, Lunar Shooter (with Split Bullets, of course), and Heckler. On an impulse, he grabbed the Bazlud and a dozen Steelies too—he figured they were small, and didn't weigh much either. Looking around to see if there was anything he missed, he turned and dashed out. The total weight of the equipment wasn't as heavy as he thought they would be.

"Invisible Shot!" A salvo of bullets was launched across the grass of Off-Limits, striking and penetrating a handful of Mateons. He was in the middle of the area, allowing him to shoot in all directions. Seeing another handful of Mateons crawling towards him, he aimed and the closest one and shouted "Recoil Shot!" as he slid backwards across the grass, giving him more space to maneuver. He put away his Lunar Shooter and unsheathed his Heckler.

"Arrow Bomb!" An arrow flew across the plain and exploded forcefully against one of the Mateons, stunning it and several of the others near it.

"Final Attack!" he shouted, as he launched another arrow at the weakened and stunned Mateons, killing them all. He rushed over and cut of the tentacles from the dead aliens. He was extremely glad that he wore gloves (even though they were just plain Work Gloves) as he watched the purple slime run down his gloves. Just killing one Mateon would yield 8 tentacles; 3 Mateons would yield two dozen tentacles. The tentacles he had were accumulating fast. He lifted his Heckler once more, practicing using a Bow's skill on a Crossbow, and shouted "Arrow Bomb!" The attack stunned another group of aliens. He quickly finished them off with a series of Double Shots.

His white Work Gloves had literally become purple Work Gloves by now. It was now becoming hard to hold the bow steady, but, as Agent Marco had told him before, life wasn't always easy. Despite the circumstances, however, he found himself smiling. True, the monsters had their own long ranged attack, which was a nuisance, and in addition to that was the slime from the tentacles, which was also annoying, there was a certain satisfaction to killing the creatures and counting the number of tentacles he had accumulated. After all, the tentacles would allow the scientists to further advance their studies, right?

"You're doing very well," encouraged Agent Marco, several yards behind him. Phil looked at his Heckler. His Crossbow also began to be covered with the slime as well. He lifted his weapon again to aim at the monsters, but just as he was about to fire another bolt, his hand slipped. One of the aliens took the opportunity and, aiming its ray gun at him, fired. The attack hit him on the chest. Luckily, his armor absorbed most of the damage, but he stumbled backwards. Phil was about to throw two of his Steelies at the alien, but instead Agent Marco took over. True to his word, Marco dashed out and, lifting his own weapon, muttered "Rapid Blast." A series of light beams, unlike the aliens', was fired at the Mateons. Although Agent Marco did "save" him, he seriously overdid it. The speed of the attack was so fast, faster than Hurricane, that it seemed like a single line. Not only that, each beam created a massive explosion upon impact, whether it impacted against the ground, an alien, or something else. The explosions were bigger, brighter, and more powerful than Phil's own Arrow Bombs. In seconds all the aliens were destroyed. And it was not only the ones that Phil was about to attack. The entire place, all of Off-Limits, was completely ridded of the aliens. The few survivors scurried off in fright, some to the Boswell Field, and others to the Kulan Field (which the Grays inhabited.) Phil stared in disbelief of the power of his teacher's weapon, and the power of the attack, able to do so much, and seemingly used with minimal effort. _Is that the power of an Agent?_

Agent Marco looked around the empty area and smiled sheepishly. "I guess we can stop the training for now. The Mateons will come back in an hour or so. They aren't too smart, and won't recognize us. Much." Looking at Phil's pack, he added, "Besides, it looks like you have enough tentacles for the time being."

Agent Marco gave a waving motion, signaling for them to return to the Omega Sector. Phil followed him. After they had fully left Off-Limits, the electric wall was turned back on.

-X-

"Tell me again why we came to Orbis' Cloud Park V." Evelyne asked Celina as she threw another pair of stars at a Luster Pixie.

"So we can trade the items with Staff Sergeant Charlie for good stuff. Magic Claw!"

"For example?"

"We might get a Scroll for Cape for Intelligence with a 60 percent success rate." Celina responded, licking her lips at the thought of that award.

"That's only useful to you," mumbled Evelyne. "Lucky Seven!"

"We might also get a set of Icicles or Maple Throwing Stars." Celina added.

"If we want those, we're going to need to hunt a different set of monsters," replied Evelyne dryly, glancing at Celina as she said it. "I'm not stupid, you know."

At that very moment, Evelyne was hit on the head by the light from the wand of a Pixie, and staggered backwards. Celina immediately teleported over to her and cast Heal. As the green aura covered the Assassin, she could feel her friend's healing powers soak into her.

Rubbing her head as she got up, Evelyne said to Celina, "You can stop healing me every time I get hit by something. I'm not a baby anymore. Besides, I know Drain as well."

"Oh, shoot. I haven't learned Dispel yet." Muttered Celina. Evelyne turned around and realized that the "Pixie" that had hit her was a Luster Pixie, and it was quickly casting its spells over an entire mob of Lunar and Star Pixies. Celina shouted "Shining Ray!" but the attack had little effect on the Pixies' improved magic defense. The mob of Pixies was now coming right after them, with dozens of light being fired at them. Celina turned to Evelyne as she shouted "Bless!" Evelyne sighed as she leapt forward and, with a shout of "Haste!" she began to furiously hurl stars and knives at the hat-wearing monsters. She was ubiquitous, dodging, leaping, and twisting every which way, avoiding the spells of the Pixies, whom had their attention all focused on the Assassin, and completely forgot about the Priestess. The Luster Pixie, who had originally powered up the mob, had somehow managed to survive the storm of metal and got extremely close the Evelyne. Picking up a Shinkita dropped by a Lunar Pixie, she finished it off with a shout of "Double Stab!" The moment the Luster Pixie was killed, she felt a surge of energy that indicated that she had leveled up.

"That was fun!" giggled Evelyne as the two started collecting all the items that the Pixies had dropped.

"How do you know Double Stab?" asked Celina, ignoring her previous statement as she scooped up several Moon Pieces.

"Well, at first I wanted to be a Bandit," replied Evelyne. "But you know what? I realized I didn't want to go stealing other people's stuff. I found it to be revolting. I also didn't want to spend the time to walk up to each of the monsters to kill it, even though Assaulter and Boomerang Step sounded good on paper. And it would be cool to strike a monster so many times with Savage Blow. But I wanted to save that time by just being able to kill the monsters from a distance. Besides, the term 'Assassin' only sticks with me for one job. The term 'Bandit' stays for two."

"Evelyne, you are weird."

"Well, the bottom line is, I wanted to become a Bandit at first, but then changed my mind. And ta-da! Here I am now." She twirled a Steely on her palm to add to the effect.

"I knew you even before you became a Thief—"

"Don't use the term 'Thief'." Evelyne cut in, slightly annoyed. "Use 'Rogue'. It's got two meanings, and I like to think of the better one. Or at least, the slightly better one."

"How come I never knew about this?" asked Celina.

"I dunno. Maybe you were off in Ellinia trading your dolls for boys."

Celina muttered something under her breath. "Hey," said Evelyne. "You're the one who brought up the idea." Celina quickly turned her attention back to the items they had collected and said, "Hey, I think we have enough Luster Pixie's Sun Pieces for exchange!"

"Very well. I guess I don't need anymore experience for now. Let's see what you get."

The two left Cloud Park and returned to the general area of Orbis. Finding Staff Sergeant Charlie, they turned in the items. To both of the girls' astonishment, they got the scroll Celina had wanted. As soon as the two had left his sight, Celina was so ecstatic that she began jumping up and down, shouting "Yes! Yes! Yes!" the entire time.

Celina quickly applied the scroll to her cape. However, to her horror, the scroll blew up in front of her face, the tell-tale sign that it had failed. Evelyne fell down laughing, clutching her stomach. Celina was lost for words, as she stared at her now empty hands. When Evelyne finally got back up, she giggled and managed to utter a "Too bad," grinning the whole time. Celina didn't know whether to be surprised, angry, or somber. All she could was to stare at her hands where the scroll once was.

"C'mon," Said Evelyne, waving her Shinkita. "Let's go back to Cloud Park and see if we can find more stuff from the Pixies.

Celina finally managed to utter "It was sixty percent!" She still couldn't believe it had failed.

"Hey. You still have to remember the other forty percent. I thought you were some sort of mathematical genius."

Celina sighed, and then followed Evelyne to the Pixies.

"Ground Smash!" A shock wave of energy traveled across the rocky grounds of Perion. The monsters hit by the force were killed instantly. Behind the attack was a warrior, carrying a sword and a shield; a Neocora and a Silver Legend Shield, to be exact. He wore a Dark Orientican set, Blood Camel Boots, a Red Oriental Helmet, and a Dark Clench, with a Black Magic Cape following him. The Warrior moved quickly along, so fast that one could have mistaken him for a Bandit with and unusually long dagger and shield. He was clearing out whatever monsters got in his. Evidently, he was not training on them. A Fire Bull came charging at him, but he didn't flinch. He didn't even block. With a shout of "Power Strike!" he extinguished the monster's flames. He continued moving along, not even stopping when he executed attacks, while hapless monsters were quickly swept aside, literally and figuratively, as he continued to head for Sleepywood, where the "formidable" monsters were.

After five more minutes of sweeping "noobish" monsters away, he arrived at the town of Sleepywood. Looking around, he went to the potion shop for more Mana Elixirs, for he had run of them while hacking through the monsters.

"Hello there, Brent," muttered the shopkeeper. "Gonna head into the dungeon to train again, eh?" Brent nodded. He had been doing this everyday since the encounter with the Assassin that had tried to kill him and a Crossbowman that didn't seem like 100% a Crossbowman. He rarely slept for more than 5 hours, and would often wake up at night to fight more monsters. He had put off training for nearly a year; now he was to resume, maybe even surpass the other two Adventurers he had met at Pig Beach. After all, he _had _been the oldest one there at that time. Even though none of the others had known that he was the oldest, the embarrassment was his. It was now his priority to level as fast as possible. He may never meet them again in his life, but…

He shoveled out a handful of mesos to the shopkeeper and, tucking the items he bought under his belt, headed off the Sleepywood in a flash. Entering the Ant Tunnel, he made his way to the Drake Caves. As the first Drake came charging at him, he gave a shout of "Power Strike!" stunning it. He whipped around and delivered a roundhouse kick at it, knocking it back a few feet. The Fighter finally sliced it apart with a Power Strike. A few of the others, noticing his presence, also came charging at him. He sent several Ground Smash attacks towards the Drakes, weakening them, then finished the mob off with Slash Blast.

Making his way deeper into the dungeon, he met more Drakes, but these of different color. This section of the cave was littered with Red Drakes. Catching the closest Red Drake by surprise, he brought it down with relative ease. There was a sudden rise in the area's temperature as a dozen or so Red Drakes sent a stream of fire towards the Warrior. He brought his shield around and shouted "Power Guard!" and managed to block the majority of the attacks.

"Rage, Slash Blast!" His Neocora, with its power amplified by his support skill, sliced through around half a dozen or so Red Drakes with relative ease. Brent delivered numerous Ground Smashes to the he rest of them, which were unsure of what to do. Realizing he was low on mana, he hitched his shield on his back, whipped out a Mana Elixir, downed it all in one gulp, and sent another ground smash toward another group of Red Drakes, all in one swift and smooth motion, while almost immediately the empty glass bottle was replaced by the shield. Looking around the area, he saw a Red Gaia Cape dropped by one of the monsters. Picking it up, he gratefully put it on, replacing his Black Magic Cape and taking in the sensation of a greater power from his newly found cape.

After another half hour of fighting different colored Drakes and having the fortune to come across a set of Steely Throwing-Knives from an Ice Drake, he found the Unknown Snack Bar behind several Dark Drakes. Grinning, he rushed over to the Dark Drakes and eliminated them. After clearing the area, he turned his attention back to the boss with a sleeping fish on the counter. He cleaned his Neocora by wiping it against some dirt, which made his weapon look just as bad, then cast Rage.

"Ground Smash!" The attack that hit the Bar woke it up, and legs and arms came out of it. It fired a beam of energy at him, and he ducked. Getting back up and holding his Neocara in both hands, he shouted "Power Strike!" The Fighter's attack sent it stumbling backwards. The boss retaliated by firing another beam of energy. With no time to dodge, he brought his shield and yelled "Power Guard!" Brent was sent sliding backwards several meters. His shield also didn't seem to block all the damage. Taking out several White Potions and downing them in a single gulp, he delivered a salvo of shock waves at the Bar, all the time running forward. Striking it with another Power Strike, he was hit unexpectedly by another blast of energy from the Snack Bar and crashed into a stone wall. Getting up painfully, he managed to move out of the way of another blast as deepened the hole he had already made. He launched another shock wave at the monster, but it had already moved out of the way and was preparing for another attack. _Missed, dang it. This monster is tough._ But then again, he _was_ fighting a monster several levels higher than him. Charging at the Bar, he managed to damage his target a number of times more before he was swept off his feet from a monster charging from his side. Getting up, he saw that more Dark Drakes had spawned. He would have to get rid of them before he could continue his attacks on the Snack Bar.

Recasting rage, he sliced more Dark Drakes in half with Slash Blast. He evaded another blast of energy from the Snack Bar and resumed his elimination of the Dark Drakes.

A few more minutes later, when the Drake Cave: Cave Exit, was cleared of Dark Drakes, he continued his assault on the Snack Bar. Several minutes later of repetitive attacking, he finally demolished his original target. Panting hard, he rummaged the place for anything useful for him. To his dismay, he did not find a Red Katana. However, after a minute or so of collecting mesos from all the monsters he had killed, he picked up a Gold Ancient Shield. _Not exactly what I was looking for,_ he thought. _But I guess this is good enough. _He stuffed the shield into his pack along with the Steelies. He headed back up to ground level. He had had enough of Sleepywood, Drakes, and Snack Bars. Upon his return from the underground, he fought a few more monsters, and on the last one, he felt a surge of energy rush through him, informing that he had reached the next level, telling him that he was well on his way to becoming a Crusader. Oh, how he looked forward to the day where he could blow mobs apart with Coma. Sure, Slash Blast and Ground Smash were useful, and they would still serve a use in the future, but they were becoming extremely repetitive. He also wanted a skill more powerful than Power Strike—Panic. He had also heard that Panic carried a secondary effect. The orbs that orbited him wouldn't look too bad, either.

"Looks like the Mateons have returned," said Agent Marco. Phil looked outside, and saw several of the octopi crawling around carrying the ray guns, with some (futilely) attempting to break into the Omega Sector.

"Alright," replied Phil. "Let's go out there for some more alien hunting." He grabbed a bunch of the equipment, and headed out, Traus in hand, with Marco following him. The moment he got out there, He executed a number of Slash Blast attacks at the aliens. As more got nearer, he sheathed his sword and, a Vaulter in hand, slammed it into the monsters, sending them sliding backwards.

Aiming his bow at the mob, he shouted "Arrow Bomb!" and an arrow exploded against the aliens, stunning them. He quickly brought out his Traus once again and screamed "Ground Smash!" several times, as the shock waves destroyed the Mateons. Just as he was about to attack the rest, he saw them crawling away.

"Looks like the Mateons _are_ getting smarter." Marco chuckled. Phil gave a long sigh, as his teacher added, "Mateons aren't the only monsters around here."

"But is my level high enough to train on the other monsters?"

"Why, you're level 59 now, from all the training on the aliens." Phil looked at Agent Marco, but said nothing. "You can probably go up against the Plateons and Barnard Grays."

"Aren't the Grays a lot smarter?" asked Phil.

"Yes. But are you or are you not a lot smarter than the Grays?"

Phil stopped walking for a moment, and then replied "I guess."

Marco let out a laugh and said "You guess? You have the intelligence of a Magician, the strength of a Warrior, the agility of a Thief, the dexterity of a Bowman, and the diversity of a Pirate."

"Oh, all right." The two headed towards the Boswell Field.

"Let's try out the Plateons first," suggested Marco. "They may be faster, but have no ray guns or that sort of thing."

"They have no long-ranged attack?" Phil asked in surprise, suddenly stopping in mid-step.

"Yes. There main means of attack, as I have observed, is to ram themselves into their opponents, since they have a thick hull."

Phil realized what he had meant when he finally saw them in person. They were like miniature flying saucers that, to say the least, didn't fly. They wore the same "space helmet" that their Plateon friends wore, but the rest of their body was encased in the so called flying saucer. Instead of flying, they seemed to only have the energy to levitate, making them to move faster and give the impression that they were sliding around the place.

"Well, here you are. Let's see how well you go against them."

Phil drew his Heckler and shouted "Arrow Bomb!" The bolt struck a group of Plateons, but they seemed largely unscathed, even with the subsequent explosion. _He's right…they do have a thick hull._ Undaunted, he switched to a different tactic.

"Iron Arrow!" The spinning bolt managed to pierce a series of the hulls. Even though it bore just a few small holes, it gave him new confidence. He followed up with "Final Attack!" The next arrow blew apart one of the Plateons.

"Not too tough, eh?" asked Marco.

He sheathed his Crossbow and drew out his Traus. Casting Rage, he struck a Plateon with his sword. It inflicted a deep gash, but didn't penetrate its armor. He whirled around and stabbed down, this time slicing it through. He was suddenly knocked off his feet by another Plateon that had rammed into him from his left. Getting up, he furiously attacked the one that just hit him until it was all battered up and almost unrecognizable. He delivered one last Power Strike to it and blew it up. Returning to his original target, he did the same thing until it too blew up. Sheathing his sword, he drew his Hall Staff and commanded "Thunderbolt!" as a spectral show of half a dozen lighting bolts descended down upon the aliens as they exploded.

He was suddenly hit by yet another Plateon that rammed into him from behind, causing him to fall on his face. He turned over, pulled out his Lunar Shooter, and fired several rounds of Double Shots and the monster as a storm of Split Bullets struck the Plateon, with the sound of metal clanging against metal rang about the place. He unsheathed his Hall Staff and cast another Thunderbolt that struck another half dozen Plateons. Getting up, he Healed himself and fired several Fire Arrows at the surrounding Plateons and burned them up.

Looking around, he saw that another Plateon was charging at him. Lifting his Hall Staff, he commanded "Ice Strike!" as a massive ice spear pierced one side of the Plateon. He followed up with Thunderbolt and blew it apart. He was suddenly aware of a rush of energy returning to him that signified that he had leveled up.

Just then, Agent Marco said, "Phil, come back to the Omega Sector. There's something I need to tell you."

Phil turned around, wondering what had happened—surely it had nothing to do with him leveling up. "Yes sir, Agent Marco."

When they passed the electrical wall, Marco told him. "I think I know why you're having such a hard time killing these aliens."

"Why?" Phil asked, almost afraid of the answer.

Marco pointed at the Hall Staff that Phil still clutched in his hand. "Outdated equipment"

Phil stopped for a moment and stared at his weapon, then realized virtually all the equipment he had were 20 levels too weak for him.

"What do you suggest I do, sir?" asked Phil.

"I suggest you take a break for now. The Omega Sector will take care of the upgrades for you."

Phil nodded, and headed back to his room.

When he woke up the next day, all the level 40 equipment—Traus, Zard, Titan, Heckler, Bazlud, Hall Staff, Lunar Shooter, Steel Tower Shield—had virtually vanished into thin air. They were nowhere to be seen. In their place was level 60 equipment. He looked at the spot and saw a Neocora, Hawkhead, Tamus, Asianic Bow, Golden Crow, Dark Gigantic, Deadly Fin, Skylar, Silver Legend Shield—all the level sixty, or near level sixty, equipment placed in his room, ready for him to decimate monsters with. Making sure he wasn't dreaming, he extended his hand and picked up a Neocora. It was real. Putting it back in its place, he touched the Holy Spear, feeling its needle sharp point.

_How does the Omega Sector do this?_ Then again, the Omega Sector was no ordinary place. He had seen many of the things that the Omega Sector had, from the electric fence to the Command Center to the missile silo. He figured that they had a large budget and good connections. Still, he wondered what all this training would mean for him, and what it would lead him to in the future.


	4. The Test of Unity

Ch. 4: The Test of Unity

A Warrior, wearing a Bronze Platine, Bronze Platine pants, Dark Carzen Shoes, Dark Husk, and Bronze Planet, walked into the house of the 3rd job instructors. He had a Red Katana in his belt of the left side, which he recently bought from a Free Market stall at a higher than usual price, and a Steel Ancient Shield hitched across his back. Noting the equipment the Warrior had, Tylus stepped forward and said "I take it that you wish to take the 3rd job advancement test?"

The newcomer nodded. "My name is Brent. I am currently a Fighter." He glanced at the fire burning in the fireplace. "I wish to become a Crusader," he finished, kneeling in front of Tylus.

"Get up, soldier. Kneeling on the ground won't do much good to you when it comes to battle." Brent got up, and Tylus handed him a scroll. "Take this to Sitting Bull in Perion, and you will then receive further instructions for your advancement."

Brent nodded, and then took off in a blink of an eye. "He's fast, isn't he?" Tylus asked the other four instructors, watching him through the door from where he was just standing.

"Yes," replied Arec. "He's almost as fast as some of the Bandits and Assassins that have come."

"How can you gauge this Fighter's abilities when you have just seen him?" asked Tylus, turning around.

"I haven't just seen him this time," replied Arec. Tylus gave him a puzzled look. "He's often trained in El Nath these days. I have seen him rushing through training grounds killing monsters like a Bandit with double-haste. Not only that, he's often been training in the middle of the night. I hear a blade slicing through monsters and I see Brent. I doubt if he sleeps more than 5 hours a day."

Tylus lifted an eyebrow. "So you think that he's a Warrior by accident, and should be a Bandit?"

"No. I'm saying he is a Warrior with the speed of a Bandit."

Rene stepped up to the two. "If you don't mind me saying so… when he turned to leave, I remember seeing a Chrono on the right side of his belt".

-X-

"Cold Beam!" A massive spear of ice slammed into a Barnard Gray, freezing it for a few moments. The power of the attack had been greatly amplified by the Evil Tale.

"Thunderbolt!" The following burst of lightning decimated the Gray that was still trapped in ice.

"Not bad, Phil. Oh, and look out for the other aliens from behind."

A few other Barnard Grays had come up behind him. Spinning around, he cast Invincible just in time to block the energy blasts of the new aliens. Although the original Barnard Gray was frozen, Agent Marco had told him that these aliens communicated by sonic waves or something, whatever that was, using the antenna on top of their heads. He waved his Evil Wings as another series of lightning bolts descended toward the gray figures, and they were no more.

Another pair of Barnard Grays had rushed up behind him and struck Phil with rays of energy. He stumbled forward and nearly fell flat on his face. He was able to quickly regain his balance as he sheathed his Evil Wings and produced an Asianic Bow. With a roar of "Soul Arrow, Double Shot!" and "Final Attack!" and defeated the two with 3 arrows. Looking around, more aliens had come against him and began firing beams of energy at him. Shouting "Power Knock-Back!" he slammed his weapon into the lot of aliens and sent them flying backwards.

"Arrow Bomb!" Releasing the bowstring, he sent an arrow soaring across the grass of Kulan Field as it struck the mob, exploding them and as a result stunning them. Wasting no time, he grabbed his Neocora and with a cry of "Ground Smash!" sent a shockwave toward the aliens, eliminating them.

"Well done," said Agent Marco, walking up to him. He looked around the Field; there were no Barnard Grays in sight, for the moment. "You seem more than capable of fighting these aliens. Perhaps you want to try some Zeta Grays?"

"How powerful are those?"

"Well, they look almost exactly like the Barnard Grays, except that, from what I have seen, wear a cape and have a long ranged attack. Oh, and they can also fly around, to some extent."

"Alright. Let's go see them," replied Phil, curious to see some flying aliens, and they entered Kulan Field II.

_Where did Sitting Bull say it was? The Door of Dimension…in the Ant Tunnel Park?_ Brent strode along the Sleepywood Dungeon, eager to get the fight over with. Finally reaching Ant Tunnel Park, he sheathed his sword and shield and climbed about the place, looking for the Door of Dimension.

When he entered the portal on the other side of the so called "Path of Glittering Crystal," he saw a figure of Sitting Bull standing on the opposite side of the place. It had a ghostly look, but no doubt formidable. He thought about what Sitting Bull had told him. _You will be fighting a clone of me. Although it only contains a fraction of my true power, it is not to be underestimated._ He heard a voice say "Prepare yourself." He drew his Red Katana and Steel Ancient Shield, and cast Rage.

"Begin."

The next few seconds was a confused melee, as the two were engaged in a fierce dual, as the two slashed at each other. Propelling himself backwards, he slammed his weapon against the ground with a shout of "Ground Smash!" This delivered a shockwave that hit the clone with a force enough to stun it. He dove forward and screamed "Power Strike!" and delivered a slash at it. However, as he attempted a second strike, his enemy brought its shield around and concurrently struck Brent with its own weapon. The attack had not pierced his armor, but had enough force to cause him to stumble backwards. The ghastly figure followed him, raising its weapon and shouting "Combo Attack…Panic!" Brent had just enough time to bring his shield around and counter "Power Guard!"

He charged at his opponent and shouted "Power Strike!" However, it only ended being deflected by his target's weapon. Quickly spinning around, he commanded "Final Attack!" managing to strike a powerful blow against his target. His opponent retired into the darkness for a moment and Brent heard something he could not decipher. All of a sudden, he saw a pair of Tauromacis charging at him. Completely unprepared, he was swept of his feet has he was struck by a potent blow. Staggering to his feet, he brought his weapon around as he saw the monsters that had run past him had now turned around and were once more charging at him from the other side. He raised his Red Katana and slammed it against the ground as a shockwave traveled toward the beasts, stunning them. He suddenly heard a roar of "Combo Attack, Panic!" and fell to the ground, nearly unconscious. He heard another shout of "Power Strike!" However, that blow struck the hard ground as he managed to turn over with what little energy he had left. Quickly downing a Barbarian Elixir, he got back up with his recovered strength, only to realize that he had been inflicted by Darkness, and the beasts and the clone had him surrounded. _Dang it…I forgot to bring Eye Drops or All-Cures with me._ Rapidly spinning around, arm and weapon outstretched, he managed to deal heavy blows to his 3 opponents. He then delivered a roundhouse kick to Sitting Bull's clone, buying himself a few precious seconds. With a shout of "Slash Blast!" he sent the killing blows to the beasts.

Watching his work with grim satisfaction, he once again forgot about his major target as the clone knocked his Red Katana out of his hand, and it landed several yards away from him. Then it raised its weapon for the final blow.

Out of nowhere, a Chrono appeared in the Fighter's hand and struck a potential blow into the clone. Brent shouted "Power Strike! Final Attack!" and he slashed at it twice. Although it had been badly injured, the fight was not over yet. The clone somehow managed to summon another pair of beasts. However, this time he was ready for them.

Leaping upwards, he hurled his Chrono at the leading Tauro and it struck true, killing it instantly. It landed short of killing the second, but no doubt wounded the other Tauro, to some extent. He saw the second Tauromacis thrust its spear downward. He leapt out of the way as a bolt of lightning struck the place where he once stood. Rushing to the other side, he scanned the area for the red glint that signified where his sword was to retrieve his Red Katana, all the time running in a zigzag pattern to evade the lightning bolts, running so fast that none of the bolts come close to hitting him. When he got back his sword, the effects of Darkness had worn off. He charged at the Tauromacis and slashed at it so intensely that it died in just a few hits. _Now for the big prize._ Hitching his shield on his back, he held his Chrono in one hand and the Red Katana in the other. Sitting Bull's clone charged at him and slashed at him, but he easily parried it with his sword. Almost immediately he struck his opponent with his Chrono. With no time to bring its weapon around, he delivered dozens of slashes and stabs with his pair of weapons, so fast that he himself could barely see the weapons swinging through the air, raining blow upon blow on his opponent. Finally, the figure stumbled to the ground, and vanished, leaving behind only a dark charm with an eerie glow.

-X-

Phil was rapidly leaping and teleporting all over the place and firing arrows and bolts of energy in every direction. The Zeta Grays were more powerful, and their ability to fly (or rather, levitate) was much of a challenge. He dodged another sphere of energy as he sank another pair of arrows into the attacking alien. Whipping around, he dealt six consecutive hits into another Zeta Gray that had sneaked up against him with his Deadly Fin.

Sheathing his dagger, he aimed at a mob of Zeta Grays and shouted "Arrow Bomb!" all the while he himself was flying through the air.

Turning to his right, he shot at another Zeta Gray that was flying towards him, but missed and pierced its cape instead. Suddenly, the Zeta Gray launched a sphere of energy at him which missed him by the width of a hair. There was suddenly a knife flying through the air, with red trailing it, as the Steely killed the Zeta Gray.

"Very good. I think we can advance to the Ultra Grays now, though perhaps you are a bit tired of seeing all this gray. Maybe we should try Mecateons?"

"Do Mecateons fly?" asked Phil.

"No. They don't fly at all. They're basically those octopi encased in a robotic suit. The robots have feet. They have these laser guns equipped to them, and the attack is extremely hard to avoid, to the point where it is labeled as unavoidable. However, judging from your dexterity and agility, you should be able to dodge a number of them."

The two headed back to Off-Limits, then took the path to Boswell Field. There were the usual Plateons sliding all over the place. However, they were able to bypass them, and quickly reached the Boswell Field with the so called Mecateons.

Agent Marco was right—the attacks did come fast, and at first he was not able to comprehend the speed of their attacks, compared to the ones the Grays and Plateons had, as the aliens zapped him over and over again. However, he soon discovered the time interval between when they charged up their attack with the sound of static and when they would actually launch the attack. Knowing this, he could teleport away from the position that he would have been hit and sometimes even having the said attacker hit one if its own teammates that was behind him.

After several minutes of leaping, dodging, teleporting, and attacking, Marco came over and said to him, "That's enough for now."

Phil turned towards him, released a pair of arrows that destroyed a Mecateon, and jumped down from a ledge.

"You are level 68, correct?" asked Marco.

"I think so."

His teacher nodded. "Since you are nearing level 70, I feel that it is time for you to go against two specific aliens."

"How…powerful are those?" There was a sudden sound of static as Phil whipped around and, Asianic Bow raised, shouted "Iron Arrow!" The spinning arrow short-circuited the machine and it died down, unable to work its weaponry.

"The first one I want you to go against is known as MT-09. They sort of look like these, but are slightly bigger."

"How powerful are its lasers?"

"For some odd reason, they do not have lasers. Instead, it fires a small missile." Phil gave Marco a strange look. Finally, Marco added, "Consider this a small quiz." The two headed to Boswell Field IV. Stopping halfway, Agent Marco led him to a concealed entrance. When they entered, there was a field of Plateons, Mecateons. There was also an MT-09.

The MT-09 really did look a lot like the Mecateons, just more…complicated. And stronger. "Keep in mind that this is what you would call a 'Boss'. Like King Slime or Mushmom. And be careful of the Plateons and Mecateons around here." Phil nodded, and took off.

-X-

_Finally! _thought Brent. _I can become a Crusader!_ He had just received a Necklace of Wisdom from a talking rock and was now headed back to the 3rd job instructor's residence. The rides between Ossyria and Victoria Island seemed to take forever. _They always felt to be so fast…but of course, I guess time flies when you're playing Omok and Monster Match Cards. _He climbed into the 3rd job instructor's house. "Ah…I see you have both the Necklace of Strength and the Necklace of Wisdom." said Tylus. Brent nodded. Tylus walked over and placed a hand on his head. "You have been judged worthy to become one of the 3rd job, protector of the weak. I now promote you to…Crusader." There was a flash of light as Brent felt a sensation, a rush of energy that he had never felt before, leaving just as quickly as it came.

"Here you are," said Tylus, reaching for a book and handing it to him. "This is the skill book to the Crusader's techniques. Study them, learn them, and you will gain the power."

Brent nodded, said "Thank you," and left.

"How did you ever talk me into fighting Eliza?" Evelyne asked Celina as they walked towards the Garden of Darkness.

"Because of the fact that you've been so lazy for the past few days, I thought this was the best way to boost your experience."

"I saved us from all those Pixies!" Exclaimed Evelyne.

"Exactly. That's where I got the idea. You gained a level from killing all those Pixies. Eliza, I've heard, gives a lot of battle experience."

"You should be the one fighting it," muttered Evelyne. "It summons Lucidas, which are weak against Holy."

"That's why I'll be standing around there. If you get overrun by those weaklings, I'll be there to save you."

"Thanks a lot," Evelyne said, totally offended. "Anyway, you still haven't answered my question."

"Oh. I said it dropped a White Nightfox, which will replace your crappy Identity. It would be useful to you when you hit 70; it would help you when you take the job advancement, as well as Red Mystique Shoes."

Evelyne sighed as she drew a pair of Ilbis. Looking around, she saw Eliza in the distance. "Let's see how well your 'idea' works. Haste. Lucky Seven!"

The pair of throwing stars hit Eliza, and its attention was turned toward the Assassin. What followed was a blur of black, red, and gray as Eliza constantly charged, lunged, and fired beams of black energy at her, and Evelyne leaping away, barely dodging the attack. A minute or so after this, Eliza summoned several Lucidas, some of which were scampering all over the place, while others charged at Evelyne like mad, firing discharges of dark energy at her.

Evelyne quickly took them out with a chain of Lucky Sevens. However, one of the Lucidas that had been wandering aimlessly suddenly decided to charge at her, catching her by surprise. This gave Eliza the chance to ram into her, inflicting serious damage. The action of the original Lucida also seemed to influence the others; all the others began running towards her to get in attacking range.

For a moment, Celina was strongly inclined to blast the field with Shining Rays, but then saw Evelyne quickly recovering and firing a dozen Drains at the surrounding monsters, including Eliza. Jumping over a group of newly summoned Lucidas, she released a hail of metal against the dark kitties, eliminating about 80 percent of them. Returning her attention to Eliza, Evelyne flung a storm of shurikens to her main target, severely wounding it. Just then, she was caught by surprise as she was struck by a beam of dark magic from behind. She immediately spun around and shouted "Lucky Seven!" and, without stopping, was suddenly back in her original position, and resumed her attack on Eliza

After a few more rounds of shuriken-do, she finally defeated Eliza, and as a result, leveled up.

"Yes! 70 at last!" Evelyne exclaimed.

"See?" asked Celina. "What did I tell you?"

Evelyne just smiled, and replied "You said we'd find some good stuff. Now let's see if there are any."

She stopped abruptly when she noticed something shimmering on the ground. Picking it up, she realized one of the Lucidas had dropped Kumbis. She placed them into her vest pocked with the other stars.

Walking over to the spot where Eliza previously was, the two rummaged through the lot of items to see what they could find. After pocketing several mesos, Celina found a White Nightfox.

"Well," said Celina. "Looks like this is your lucky day." Celina handed the hat over to Evelyne. The Assassin took off her Identity and replaced it with her new headgear, feeling a new kind of power enter her.

"Guess it's your lucky day, too." Evelyne said as she picked up a number of scrolls. One of them was a scroll for Earring for INT, with a 60% success rate. She handed that to her friend.

"The others are only useful to you," Celina pouted. The second one was a scroll for Dagger for Attack, 60%. And finally, the third was a scroll for Cape for DEX, also with a 60% success rate.

Other than the loads of Lucida Tails, there were also a handful of Wizard Potions, which Celina stored in her pack.

"Now that's what I'm talking about," Celina said.

At the bottom of the pile was a pair of Red Mystique Shoes. Celina picked them up.

"You said your favorite color was red, right?" Celina asked as she handed them to her. Evelyne replaced her Blood Moss Boots with her red shoes.

"Not bad," said Evelyne. "We should do this more often." Celina just gave her a wink.

-X-

Just as Phil dodged another missile, he released his bowstring as an exploding arrow sailed across the area and blew up the MT-09. He then heard Agent Marco say "Well done. You have improved."

Phil turned around to respond to his teacher as he saw a Mecateon from his peripheral vision aiming at him and about to zap him. He shot it down with another Arrow Bomb, and he heard Marco say "see what I mean?"

Then he heard him ask him, "You still okay?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you still in fighting condition?"

Phil shrugged his shoulders. "I guess."

"If that's the case, I say you should kill a few more aliens, for a bit more experience. If you want to rest, then you may leave. Your choice. However, I will be teaching you something else later this day, because you are very near the time for the 3rd job advancement."

Phil nodded, said "okay", and continued attacking aliens.

After about 15 more minutes of fighting Mecateons, Plateons, and MT-09s, he got bored of using the same technique on them over and over on his enemy—they were the kind of monsters that rarely learned anything and were easy to kill. In this case, they still used their same fighting tactics all the time. When he returned to the Omega Sector, he saw Agent Marco talking to General Maestro and Jr. Officer Medin, with his back to him. Jr. Officer Medin said something inaudible and pointed at Phil, and Agent Marco turned around and walked towards Phil.

"I trust you had a good time training, no?"

"I guess you can say that," Phil replied.

Marco nodded. Then he said "Do you want to learn what I will teach you now, or do you want to rest up a bit?"

"I think I'll rest a bit. A few minutes or so."

Marco nodded once more, and said "I'll be waiting for you when you're ready."

'A few minutes or so' later, Phil came out and saw Agent Marco wielding a spectral-looking sword that looked like a katana, with a sort of bright orange handle plated with jewels that had an intricate design. Marco had one hand behind his back and was wielding it like an expert, slashing, stabbing, and fencing. When Marco saw him, he quickly put it away and said, "All right, now. Let's get things started." He didn't mention about the blade he had been holding.

Phil decided to follow along and not ask about the weapon.

"The thing I am about to teach you now is skill fusion. There are two types. The first is using an attack that was meant for one weapon with another. You have already begun doing so, by using Arrow Bomb with a Crossbow, and Iron Arrow with a Bow. There are many more. For example, you can use Savage Blow with a sword, or Drain with arrows."

Phil nodded, and Agent Marco went on.

"The other is combining the use of skills."

"But don't I already combine skills? Like, I use Double Shot immediately after Arrow Bomb."

Marco laughed as if he had known this would happen. "Yes. But this is different. What I mean is actually taking two skills, and forming them into one attack."

"How do I do that?"

"That is just what I am about to teach you. The easiest example is combining two different elemental attacks, such as fire and ice, holy and fire, or lightning and fire. The possibilities are endless. The Mages' skill, Element Composition, is basically that."

"But that's 3rd job!"

"Yes, but you know every skill in the book up to Second Job. Now, have you heard of a Ranger's skill named 'Inferno', and a Sniper's skill named 'Blizzard'?"

He nodded.

"Although you have not learned those exact skills yet, you have the ability to execute a weaker version of them, due to the fact that you already have knowledge of those elements. You know Cold Beam and Fire Arrow. All you need to do is apply those elements to your arrows, and you will have those abilities. And since you know poison brace as well, you can also apply poison to stars and daggers for an early Venomous Stab or Venomous Star"

"Higher Job abilities in the Second Job?"

"Well…I wouldn't exactly say that, since they will be extremely weaker than the conventional skills. However, this will make learning those actual skills easier when you become high enough level."

"Alright. So what do I do?"

Phil spent the next two hours in Off- Limits practicing fusing all kinds of different "artes," as Agent Marco had recently called them—"At a higher level, these skills, spells, are called 'artes'—no , not the drawing kind; this one has an 'e' at the end. It encompasses all kinds of spells, elemental, supportive, active, arcane; take your pick."

He combined ice with fire—with Agent Marco informally called 'Cold Fire,' which Phil liked the sound of the name, applied fire to arrows and stars, Lightning to axes, Holy to Swords, Ice to daggers, and everything in between. He would commonly plop down on the grass, exhausted, and take a drink of a Mana Elixir or Pure Water, and resumed practicing, combining ice and fire, lightning with ice, fire with lightning, poison and ice, lightning and poison, lightning with fire with poison, and whatever else he knew. Of course, along with fusing artes, Agent Marco reminded him to practice 'using an attack that was meant for one weapon with another.' In other words, Slash Blast with his Evil Wings, Power Knock-Back with his Tamus, and Savage Blow with his Neocora. After Phil felt he was competent enough with these new tactics, he moved on to the Plateons, which were in fact easier to battle.

Phil had once asked why he would have to use a skill such as Slash Blast with a weapon like a staff; it had very little effect compared to the swords. Marco's reply was 'so you don't have to pull out another weapon in the middle of a fight.'

That was certainly true. Carrying a bunch of bulky weapons with him was certainly cumbersome, and maybe an emergency like what Marco had stated would happen one day or another. But still…

After the fourth half-hour of (ineffectively) hacking at aliens with his Evil Wings using Power Strike, Slash Blast and a Double Stab that barely stabbed through the monsters, he finally left the aliens and returned to the general area of the Omega Sector.

Agent Marco, as Phil saw him when he returned, was once again having a quiet conversation with the two officers. When Agent Marco went over to Phil, Agent Marco said "I trust your training went well?"

"Yeah," muttered Phil sarcastically and almost in an annoyed tone. "Using Slash Blast with an Evil Wings sure is fun."

Agent Marco through his head back and laughed. "I know. It is boring. But it seems like that section of the training is over."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. I believe you've become consistent in using skill fusion?"

"I guess you can say that."

"Very well." Agent Marco looked up at the sky, and there was a beautiful sunset. "It seems like we can stop for now. The rest can wait until tomorrow."

-X-

"Are you sure you want to take the advancement test today?" Celina asked Evelyne when they entered the Swamp in Kerning City.

"Of course," said Evelyne eagerly. She looked at her companion. "I don't wanna wait another day to become a Hermit. I want to learn the skills _now_."

"Well, when you become a Hermit, it may very well be night time; too late to practice any of the new skills."

"Night time is the perfect time to practice skills." The Assassin replied.

"Uh, huh. And this is coming from someone who once broke a window with Lucky Seven, set off an alarm, and woke up everybody, and caused a bunch of other Thei—Rogues, to come into action and start attacking wildly in every direction, thinking the place was under attack by a Crimson Balrog."

"What are you—eww, what is this stuff?" she said, noticing something green and slimy was sticking to her brand new shoes.

"That's part of the swamp," Celina replied coolly. Evelyne looked at her. She had virtually nothing sticking to her. "How come _you_ have nothing on your clothes?" Evelyne asked.

"Magic," replied the Priest, grinning.

"Whatever." Evelyne muttered, just as she bumped into a tree.

"Hey, it looks like we've reached Monkey Swamp II."

Evelyne wiped some slime off her face, and then said "Hey. That looks like the Door of Dimension."

They hugged each other, as Celina said, "Good luck. Bless!" Evelyne could feel her friend's power surge into her, simultaneously raising her morale.

"See you when I'm done," replied Evelyne as she disappeared through the Door.

Evelyne reappeared on the Path of Glittering Crystal. She took her time as she walked casually through the path, as if this was nothing more than a walk in Henesys. Then she entered the portal, and saw a familiar figure in the distance: Dark Lord.

"Draw your weapons," said Dark Lords clone. She loaded a set of Steelies into her Black Scarab, which she and Celina had recently bought in light of her achievement, and cast Haste.

"Begin."

Evelyne responded immediately, screaming "Lucky Seven!" at the top of lungs and simultaneously hurling a storm Steelies at her opponent and moving all over the place. The clone did the same, as he jumped from place to place and returned fire, every once in while shouting "Avenger!" chucking a massive star at her. Evelyne was able to dodge most of the attacks. Her Weapon Attack, Defense, Accuracy, and Avoidability had been greatly enhanced by her friend's supportive skill. Even when she was occasionally hit by a smaller star, it had little effect on her. She was hit once by an Avenger, but she was able to quickly recover with a Drain.

All of a sudden, she saw a pair of beasts with their spears appear out of nowhere, charging at her. She tried to leap away, but, unfortunately for her, Haste and Bless simultaneously wore off, as the one on her left slammed into her. The one on her left stabbed its weapon into the ground as a bolt of lightning came down. Luckily, she was able to roll out of the way.

Casting Haste once more, she grabbed a pair of Kumbis and hurled them at the clone, stunning it for a moment before returning her attention to the Tauromacis. She struck the first one with a dozen more Steelies before it died. The second thrust its spear into the ground once more, but she easily dodged it and at the same time, sent a torrent of Ilbis (for she had run out of Steelies) at her foe.

When it had finally died, she swiftly turned around just to see another Avenger screaming at her. It whizzed by her hair, missing her by a fraction of an inch. Another pair of stars came flying at her, and she quickly dove out of the way, concurrently launching another torrent of her own stars.

She ran forward, stopping at the peak of the area, and rained more Ilbis upon her opponent. Dark Lord's clone returned responded to her attacks in a similar manner, until it decided to fire another Avenger. Misjudging the angle, the oversized star flew a little bit over her. However, she reacted in a more aggressive way. Jumping up, she seized the star, still spinning in midair, spun around, and sent it back towards the sender. The gigantic shuriken tore Dark Lord's Clone apart, and it disappeared in a flash of black light.

She jumped over to where Dark Lord's Clone originally was, and picked the so-called Black Charm.

-X-

When she came out, the moon was already up. Not a full moon, thankfully, for that would have called out the lycanthropes. But the place was definitely dark.

"So…" said Celina as the pair trekked through the snow of El Nath. "You still want to do it? I mean, all this can wait till tomorrow."

"If I stop now and go to bed, I won't be able to fall asleep" retorted Evelyne.

"Have you got a Dark Crystal?" asked Celina.

"I've dozens of them, considering how stupid us Thieves are, compared to Magicians," Evelyne said, half gleefully and half mockingly as she swung the Necklace of Strength around in her hand.

Celina sighed. "Very well. Let's just hope that the guys in the 3rd job advancement residence are still awake.

"Well, they may not all be awake. But Arec will definitely be awake.

When they got there, all four were awake. Evelyne handed the Necklace over to her 3rd job instructor, then went over to the Holy Ground for a Necklace of Wisdom. After getting through the whole ordeal of talking rocks, she went back to Arec and handed over the Necklace of Wisdom.

"You have done well," said Arec. "You are now worthy of the rank…" he paused for a moment, placing his hand on her head. "Hermit." There was a flash of light, and a kind of energy that Evelyne never felt before rushed through her.

Arec smiled. "You are now a member of the third job. Use your new skills wisely." He handed a book titled The Way of the Hermit. Evelyne took it thankfully and hugged it.

"Thank you," she replied

Evelyne and Celina quickly left.

The moment they got outside, Evelyne said defiantly "The first skill I'm gonna learn is Flash Jump." She turned to Celina. "That way, I can outrun you."

"I don't think it's smart of you to learn Flash Jump first," replied Celina. "Maybe it would be better to learn Shadow Partner or Avenger first. Or even Dark Flare."

"I don't care. I'm already good enough with Lucky Seven and Drain. Flash Jump will cover all my mobility needs. Shadow Partner, Avenger, and Dark Flare can wait another level or two. Besides, I have you"

Celina looked at Evelyne and sighed. She was still the child she knew her as, and didn't understand everything yet. Already Evelyne was flipping through her book, barely giving a glance at the other skills—alchemist, meso up, shadow partner, shadow web, shadow meso—and the moment she found the page about Flash Jump, she began reading intently. El Nath, Celina, everything—was closed from her thoughts. She continued to read the description of Flash Jump, already having dreams of flying all over the place and outrunning her friend. As she had heard, teleport at its maximum level was no match to flash jump even at its first level. She was so into it that she didn't even hear her friend say "Look out for the—" as she walked straight into a tree, hitting it, and fell on her back. Getting up, she resumed walking and reading the text, as if nothing had happened.

Celina looked at her and sighed a second time.

-X-

The sun shone brightly the next day; so bright, in fact, that as if it were an omen.

Phil, who was still in the dining room and eating breakfast, had already begun to wonder what this day would be like. As he was in the middle of drinking some water, he heard footsteps, and saw Agent Marco enter the room.

"Good morning, Phil."

Phil looked at him as he swallowed.

"Today, I have a very special assignment for you."

"What?" Phil asked as he wiped his mouth. "Killing more aliens?"

"That's part of it. Though not all of it." After that, Agent Marco turned and left.

When Phil came outside, Agent Marco was once again talking with General Maestro and Jr. Officer Medin. He could not see Agent Marco's face, but saw the other two nodding every now and then. After a minute of their discussion, Agent Marco turned around and walked over to Phil.

"Alright," Agent Marco said when he got to Phil. "This is going to be one of your last training assignments against the aliens. You are competent in your Martial Arts and Fusion Artes, correct?"

Phil gave a nod.

"You must now learn to unite your skills. As a pre-test, I want you to defeat the Chief Grays and collect the Chief Gray's Signs."

"What level are they?"

"At your rate, you should not be worrying about something as insignificant as their level. You will be skilled enough to defeat them."

The two walked out into Off-Limits, then went in the direction of Kulan Field. After passing the Grays that Phil had already fought against, they reach Kulan Field IV.

"Those walking around with the red capes and star on their forehead are the Ultra Grays," said Agent Marco. "They have an all-around attack, so the lightning goes in every direction, even behind. The Chief Gray, the one with the staff and hunchback, so to speak, has an area attack, and can summon Barnard Grays, thought those summons shouldn't be any problem for you. Remember to collect the Chief Gray's Sign."

Agent Marco looked around and saw three of them. "Just get those three, and your task will be complete."

Phil nodded, said "Yes, sir," then zoomed off to complete his task.

As he was running, one of the Zeta Grays noticed him, and summoned a sphere of energy. However, before it could release it, Phil shouted, "Lucky Seven!" and killed it.

An Ultra Gray had been near it, and sent shockwaves of energy in every direction. Phil was hit by it, though it did not hurt him severely. He brought out his Evil Wings and shouted "Cold Beam!" and struck his attacker with a spear of ice. Before he could attack the Chief Gray, however, another Zeta Gray came up behind him and hit him. The Ultra Gray then recovered and unleashed another shockwave of energy, hitting him. Out of his peripheral vision he saw a group of Ultra and Zeta Grays forming a sort of wall in front of the Chief Grays

_The Chief Grays certainly seem to be their priority of protection,_ thought Phil.

He raised his staff and shouted "Thunderbolt!" and a number of lightning strikes rained down on the surrounding aliens. It seemed to be the ideal arte to use on these foes, but unfortunately, it had little effect on them.

Teleporting out of the way, he sheathed his staff and drew his Asianic Bow. With a shout of "Soul Arrow, Arrow Bomb!" he blew up some of the aliens and stunned the others.

Glancing at the Chief Grays, he saw they had summoned several Barnard Grays to their aid.

"Iron Arrow!" The rotating bolt tore through a number Grays that were teaming up against him. He then fired several Doubles Shots in succession, killing or wounding his targets.

He turned around to see one of the summoned Barnard Grays. He swung his bow at them with a shout of "Power Knock-Back!" and sent them flying backwards across the Kulan Field.

He turned back and saw a Zeta Gray charging at him. He evaded a sphere of energy and retaliated with "Double Shot, Final Attack!" as the 3 arrows killed the alien.

Finally clearing the immediate area, he finally turned his attention back to the Chief Grays. However, he could not see them; they were completely blocked by an ever increasing mass of aliens.

"Arrow Bomb, Final Attack!" The first arrow destroyed a portion of the aliens, and the second arrow managed to destroy another 3.

Putting away his bow, he brought out his Burning Hell. He shouted "Grenade!" as the bomb landed near the Grays. The explosion took out a considerable chunk of the aliens. He quickly followed up with "Invisible Shot!" as several bullets, flying faster than the naked eye could see, struck down more aliens. He now saw an opening to his primary targets.

Neocora and Silver Legend Shield in hand, he cast Power Guard and rushed forward, yelled "Slash Blast!" and "Power Strike!" cutting down the wall of aliens.

The Chief Grays had begun to separate by now, and when he reached one, it raised its staff and chanted something undecipherable. Numerous stars rained down around it, catching Phil off guard and stunning him.

Quickly recovering, he leapt backwards and slammed his sword against the ground, shouting "Ground Smash!" The shockwave had no effect on the Zeta Grays, but decimated the Barnard Grays and hurt the Chief Grays.

He switched his Neocora with his Deadly Fin, cast Haste and Dagger Booster, and screamed "Savage Blow!" delivering dozens of hits to the Grays each second. Destroying several of the monsters, the Chief Grays were now easy targets. Sheathing the Dagger, he produced a pair of Steelies and shouted "Lucky Seven!" The knives struck one of the old aliens, and killed it. He then brought out his Evil Wings once more.

"Fire Arrow!" The flaming spear sailed across the field towards another one of the Chief Grays. However, it was blocked by its area attack. He tried again, and this time it hit, killing the Chief Gray.

_One more,_ he thought. He aimed his staff and shouted "Fire Arrow!" Just as he released the fire-made bowstring, a Zeta Gray came between the flame and the Chief Gray and took the damage of the attack. The flying alien then responded with a bolt of energy.

"Invincible!" The quickly created barrier managed to prevent any damage from the attack. He re-shifted his weapon and shouted "Cold Beam!" The ice attack froze the Zeta Gray, and it fell to the ground.

Holding the wand once again in the fashion of a bow, he realized that a single element alone could not end this fight. Already he saw another Zeta Gray ready to block it.

"Holy Flame!" A bowstring, half white and half red was formed, as well as an arrow that was half fire and half holy. He let flew, as the arrow tore through a pair of Zeta Grays, struck down the Chief Gray, and killed several more aliens in a massive explosion of red and white.

Panting, he took a drink of a Mana Elixirs and returned to his next task.

Searching around the heap of items and aliens, he found the 3 Chief Gray's Signs, one by one. He also found a number of mesos, which he pocketed immediately. Looking around, he didn't see his teacher anywhere. He was too surprised to be scared. Without thinking anymore, he returned to the Omega Sector.

"Finished your task, eh?" asked Agent Marco when Phil returned.

"Yeah," responded Phil as he handed over the three Chief Gray's Signs. "Why and when did you leave?"

"I left about halfway through the battle," replied Marco. Before Phil could say anything, Marco added "I had no worries about you. The question wasn't if you were going to finish or not. It was when; it was just a matter of time."

Phil nodded. He guessed that that would happen, and said no more.

"Now, here is the second part of your training. You have reached 70. Now is the time for your 3rd job advancement."

Phil looked at him, but didn't say anything.

Agent Marco continued. "Of course, it will not be any ordinary test. You are to take a special test, taking into account your abilities. Everything has already been arranged."

Phil nodded wearily. Agent Marco could see his student's tiredness, and then said "You may rest for a while. But I prefer it that you take the Third Job Advancement test today."

Phil nodded again saying "Yes, sir." He turned and went back to his room.

A half hour later, he came back out. "What's my Third Job Advancement Test going to be?" he asked.

"Unlike the conventional test, which you first go to El Nath, meet up with your appropriate 3rd Job Instructor, and so forth, you are to go directly to the Victoria Island. The reason others go to their 3rd Job Instructor is to receive a recommendation letter from them; you have been under my supervision the entire time, so you do not need one."

Marco continued on. "You will go through the Warp Portal in the Omega Sector Command Center and head back to the Nautilus. Kyrin already knows about all of this; you will receive the rest of the instructions from her." Agent Marco handed him a bag. It contained a number of weapons, all level 70. "These should help you in your fight."

"Thank you," said Phil.

"Hold on," Agent Marco said. "You need this, too." Marco produced a scroll. There was something written on it, but it was neither a Return Scroll nor an equipment enhancement scroll.

"You will need to show this to the 3rd Job Instructors."

"Yes, sir" said Phil, and he went into the Omega Sector Command Center. Getting a Warp Card from Dr. Kim, he passed through the Portal and reappeared in the Nautilus.

"Hi, Kyrin.

"Welcome," said Kyrin. "I've been expecting you. Dr. Kim has told me all about you, and your progress. Your progress has been quite remarkable."

Phil looked at her with a faceless expression and nodded.

"You are to head to Sleepywood. There, you are to head to the Sanctuary and defeat the Jr. Balrog."

"I have to defeat a Jr. Balrog!?" he asked, appalled.

"Yes," replied Kyrin. "After that…"

"There's more?!" Phil cut in.

"Yes. After that, the Jr. Balrog will drop a jewel. It will be the key to another room. Place it inside a lock, and the door will open. In the other room, you will fight clones of Athena Pierce, Dark Lord, Sitting Bull, Grendel, and I."

"So it's a five on one battle."

"Yes. You will then collect the five Dark Charms; one dropped by each, and bring them to me. You will get five Necklaces of Strength in return. After that, you will head over to the 3rd Job Instructors to give them the Necklaces. You will be told to go over to the Holy Ground, where you will need five Dark Crystals to receive five Necklaces of Wisdom."

Kyrin reached for something behind her, and brought out a bag. Handing it over to him, she said "There are five Dark Crystals in here. These should be sufficient enough for you, considering you don't lose anything."

Phil took it, and placed the bag she gave him inside the larger bag.

"Good luck." said Kyrin. She was beside herself with worry. This was the first time that anything like this was done in the entire history of the world; through Phil's reactions, it seemed that neither Agent Marco nor Dr. Kim had told him that. And that only added to her concern.

-X-

_Freakin' Jr. Balrog,_ Phil thought as he wandered through the dungeon, hauling the bag of weapons with him. He had used Dark Sight to bypass several of the monsters; he figured he should save as much energy as possible for the fight against the Jr. Balrog and the five clones. Finally reaching the Sanctuary, he saw the Jr. Balrog wandering around, along with a Taurospear or two.

_Looks like I'll be the one to attack first._ He brought out his Asianic Bow and uncast Dark Sight.

"Soul Arrow, Double Shot, Final Attack!" he chanted in quick succession. A trio of glowing arrows flew across the Sanctuary and struck Jr. Balrog. The Jr. Balrog emerged unscathed, only angered. This also caused the Taurospears to take notice of the newcomer as well.

The Jr. Balrog launched a flame attack at him, but he simply teleported out of the way. He then fired another pair of arrows and the Jr. Balrog.

The winged monster moved out of the way as the attack struck a part of a wall. The arrow from Final Attack however, hit its target.

One of the Taurospears charged at him, but stopped short. Phil was puzzled. Suddenly, the beast thrust its weapon into the ground as a bolt of lightning fell down, catching him by surprise.

Quickly healing himself, he shouted "Arrow Bomb!" and the arrow exploded against the Taurospears, stunning them.

He glanced to his side and saw the Jr. Balrog coming up to him. It slashed at him, but once again he teleported to his side, only seconds away from being hit.

The Taurospears, recovering from the effect of Arrow Bomb, now refocused as a mob of beasts now charged at him with the intent of running him over.

He sheathed his bow and drew out his Red Katana and Steel Ancient Shield.

"Rage, Ground Smash, Slash Blast, Final Attack!" The Shockwave struck down a few of the beasts, and as they got closer, the last two killed the rest of them or caused considerable damage to them.

He stole a glance at the Jr. Balrog and saw the movement he dreaded. It was charging up for its signature attack: The Meteor.

Bringing his Steel Ancient Shield around, he commanded "Magic Guard, Invincible, Iron Will, Power Guard!"

The attack came flying at him at an incredible speed as he braced himself for the impact. It struck him with significant force and he was pushed back several feet. The support he had cast had managed to reduce much of the damage. But already he could see the Jr. Balrog coming at him again. It didn't have enough energy to launch a second Meteor at him immediately, but it had enough power to continue fighting as a potential threat.

"Ground Smash!" The shockwave traveled across the ground and hit the monster, catching it by surprise. Sheathing his sword, he grabbed his Evil Wings and commanded "Holy Arrow!" and released the white bowstring.

Looking around, he saw another group of Taurospears had arrived, but now were in a circle around him. The one gap was taken by the Jr. Balrog.

He instinctively cried out "Thunderbolt!" as lightning came down and struck the monsters. He escaped the trap by running past a pair of Taurospears and repositioned himself.

Once he got far enough, he threw several pairs of stars in a Lucky Seven fashion.

He brought his Doombringer and, holding it in both hands, gave several shouts of "Power Strike!" and "Slash Blast!" and cleaved apart most of the beasts. For the last one, he threw dozens of punches before it died.

Turning to the Jr. Balrog, he saw just in time as it slashed at him, throwing him backwards.

He looked at his armor. There was a deep gash in it, though luckily, the attack had not hit his skin.

_Only one thing to do._ Grabbing his staff, he commanded "Holy Flame!" He could feel the mana rush through his arms, one of holy magic and the other of fire magic.

He let fly. The arrow illuminated the entire place and finished off the Jr. Balrog.

He walked over to where the Jr. Balrog once was, and saw it had left behind a sort of black jewel. The top was completely flat, as if it was cut apart by a laser beam. The other said had an elaborate design. Walking to the wall on the other side of where he came in, he saw a hole in the wall. However, this was no ordinary hole. It too had a complex form. Looking back at the jewel in his hand, he realized that it would fit perfectly inside the hole.

He placed it inside. He barely pushed it in as hole and jewel disappeared at once, and was replaced by a rotating light. It grew larger, as he saw that it was a portal. Wondering what was on the other side, he stepped through it. Suddenly, he was on the other side.

On the other side, he saw five familiar, yet ghostly, figures standing side by side, and recalled Kyrin's words: _you will fight clones of Athena Pierce, Dark Lord, Sitting Bull, Grendel, and myself._

They were the clones of each of the leaders.

Sitting Bull's clone stepped forward, and said "Prepare yourself."

Phil pulled out the Redemption and thrust it into the ground, face-up, as if to mark his position. He put the Red Katana into the sheath on his left side and the Kandine into the sheath on his right. He took the Gross Jaeger and slid it into its quiver that was strung across his back and the Steel Ancient Shield as well, as they made sort of an X shape. Placing his Abyss Shooter into his pocket, he slid one of the Beia Crash over his right hand and the Blue Scarab over his left. The rest of the equipment stayed in the bag behind him.

He then chanted a series of spells—Focus, Soul Arrow, Magic Guard, Meditation, Invincible, Iron Will, Hyperbody, Rage, Power Guard, Haste, and, of course, Booster, and everything else he knew—as he strung his Golden Hinkel.

"Begin."

What followed could either be defined as a mess or a sequence of intrepid attacks. Sitting Bull's clone took the lead, his sword pointed forward. Grendel, following closely behind Sitting Bull, already began chanting his own support spells.

Athena, Dark Lord, and Kyrin stayed in the back, as they fired arrows, threw stars, or shot bullets.

Phil teleported past an arrow and shouted "Double Shot, Final Attack!" The damage from all three of the arrows was taken by Sitting Bull. However, he seemed relatively unfazed, as he continued his advance.

"Arrow Bomb!" The arrow exploded forcefully against Sitting Bull, stunning him, as he stopped his movements. Grendel had been unaffected by the hit now moved in front of Sitting Bull, ready to attack.

Before it could cast a spell however, Phil ran up to Grendel and shouted "Power Knock-Back!" slamming his Hinkel into the ghostly figure. Grendel was forced several feet back, now near the other three.

Phil put away his bow and drew out his Red Katana and Silver Legend Shield just as Sitting Bull recovered from the effects of the Arrow Bomb. They were now having a fierce melee dual, neither side willing to give up any ground.

He heard a shout of "Mortal Blow!" as an arrow whizzed past him, missing him by the width of the hair. It slammed into one of the walls and left a sizable dent in it.

He then caught a glimpse Dark Lord rushing up to help its comrade, and Phil slammed his shield into Sitting Bull, causing him to stumble backwards. Unfortunately, Dark Lord was now in attacking range.

Phil heard Dark Lord shout "Savage Blow!" just as he had time to counter with "Power Guard!" A series of six dagger strikes bang against his shield, and he had to take a step backwards from falling over.

Dark Lord and Sitting Bull now changed places. Sitting Bull swing its sword at him and knocked his Silver Legend Shield out of his hand. Before he could retrieve it, however, a pair of shurikens struck him, causing him to stumble backwards. He then heard a cry of "Strafe!" and 4 arrows slammed into him, sending him spinning counter-clockwise. Even while he was in mid-air, he heard something indecipherable as there was a small cloud of smoke; as Shadow Kyrin summoned Kyrin's Clone. The next thing he knew, two pairs of bullets hit him, knocking the living daylights out of him and helped him continue his whirling journey to the rear end of the area. He then landed facedown. Hard.

Even as he was facedown, he heard another chanting. Looking up, he saw a pair of Tauromacis appear out of thin air. They stood for a moment, and then charged forward.

Quickly Healing himself, he got up. He had landed beside his Redemption. Seizing it, he hurled it toward the Tauromacis on his right. It speared it and killed it.

He teleported to his right and missed the weapon of the second Tauromacis by inches.

The group of clones was far away enough to not make an immediate threat.

Stringing his Hinkel, he commanded "Arrow Bomb!" and released the bowstring. However, he hadn't aimed at clones. Or even the Tauromacis. He had aimed upward. The explosion caused a massive hunk of rock to fall down. He was lucky. It fell just onto the Tauromacis, crushing the beast, and it disappeared.

Turning 180 degrees, he saw Sitting Bull rushing at him again. He fired a chain of Double Shots, each followed by a Final Attack. This did not eliminate him, but caused substantial damage, enough to make it stop whatever it was doing for few moments.

Grendel had now taken the lead, as he commanded "Thunder Spear!" The spear, cackling with energy, came at him. Phil dove out of the way as it increased the size of the dent in the wall.

"Ice Strike!" Dozens of icicles burst from where Grendel was, and Phil was caught by surprise as he was hit by a number of them.

"Double Shot, Final Attack!" The three glowing arrows sailed toward Grendel, and he scored three critical hits. He fired another Iron Arrow and it tore through Grendel. Then, in a flash of black light, Grendel disappeared.

Right behind him, however, came several arrows, shurikens, and bullets flying towards him. He only had a moment's notice to dodge them; however, one of the arrows caught him on the arm. Pulling it out, he quickly cast Heal as the flow of blood stopped.

Grendel was gone, but he was now occupied in a melee dual with Sitting Bull, parrying most of the attacks. He retaliated whenever he could with his sword or shield. Dark Lord hurled stars at rapid fire speed, so he had to face that problem was well. Salvos of arrows and bullets came in every few seconds; they were easier to predict and came less frequently. He also had to remind himself that there were two "Kyrins," though one was slightly weaker than the other.

Steeling himself, Phil struck Sitting Bull with his shield and sword at the same time, stunning the Warrior. Wasting no time, he stabbed through, and it disappeared like Grendel.

_2 down, 3 to go._ He thought. The pair of Kyrins came up to him now, and Dark Lord following behind. Only Athena stayed in the back, most likely due to the fact that she had no effective close-range attack, and had the farthest attack range.

He had no idea which Kyrin was the "real Kyrin" so he attacked the one on his left with Power Strike after Power Strike. He was lucky; he guessed right, and after 5 of them, it vanished into thin air.

The "real Kyrin" however executed a Somersault Kick attack against him and he staggered backwards, as well as knocking his weapon out of his hand. She brought up her gun and aimed at him. However, before she could fire, he grabbed his Kandine and threw himself forward, screaming "Savage Blow!" Kyrin was hit by Savage Blow after Savage blow. In a few seconds, she disappeared like her clone.

"Avenger!" The enormous star raced at him at an incredible speed as it threw Phil back several yards. The Thief then continued to throw more stars at Phil, but, being so far away, managed to recover in time and evade the shurikens. Phil threw his own shurikens and Dark Lord, all the time running forward. He shouted "Double Uppercut!" as the pair of punches stunned Dark Lord. He lashed out with a roundhouse kick, followed by a barrage of Flash Fist attacks. This caused Dark Lord to vanish into the air in a flash of darkness as well.

He hadn't heard Athena shout "Mortal Blow" but he sure felt the attack now. The missile slammed into him with the force of a battering ram, throwing him off his feet and making him drop his Hinkel as he was pushed the entire length of the area and crashed into the wall. The dent in the wall became even larger. The arrow had pierced his armor, making a hole in it, the tip; fortunately, had not pierced his skin; though it just touched his body.

"Strafe!" Four arrows, one behind the other, were aimed at him. He quickly dove out of the way as they deepened the dent even more with four explosions.

He Healed himself and got to his feet. In that moment, four Tauromacis appeared in a row, just like the arrows.

Unsheathing his Gross Jaeger, he shouldered it, stared through the scope, and took a deep breath. Then he spoke, in a cool, calm, and collected voice.

"Iron Bomb."

A spinning arrow pulsing with energy appeared on his crossbow, so bright that it was nearly blinding. He struggled to control the energy; it was the first time he dared to fuse the two skills together, especially one on a weapon that amplified it so much. Holy Arrow itself was not very powerful, so it was easy to fuse it with Fire Arrow to create Holy Flame. But this was different. All his focus was on controlling the massive amount of energy he had created; he paid no attention to the Tauromacis.

He let fly. The arrow soared across the field, piercing one Tauromacis after another, and with each it, it let out an explosion. The explosion didn't cause the arrow to disintegrate, however. Each beast was struck once when it tore through it, and once when there was an explosion. The explosions were so large that they even reached Athena Pierce. Finally it reached the Bowmistress. The arrow hit her, and she immediately disappeared into the darkness. And it didn't end there. It continued traveling past her. When the arrow hit the end, the wall, there was an immense explosion, so bright that he had to shield his eyes from it. When it was over, he saw the "dent" it had made. It was easily twice as large as the one behind him. Perhaps even three times as big.

He walked across the place slowly, picking up the Black Charms one by one and retrieved his weapons as well.

When the last Black Charm had been placed into his hand, he saw a glowing "hole" in the middle of the place. It was a portal. Placing everything into his bag, he hauled it with him and disappeared through the hole.

He reappeared in Sleepywood town.

There weren't many people in the area. The few people that were there didn't even notice his arrival and presence. Walking past a Magician, he continued to hauling the bag of equipment. When he got outside, it was only slightly before noon. He continued toward the Nautilus.

"Ah, you're back," said Kyrin. "I trust that the fight went well?"

"Sort of," replied Phil.

She laughed, and then asked, "Do you have the Black Charms?"

Phil nodded and took them out. She handed them to Kyrin, and she produced five Necklaces of Strength. Phil took them and placed them inside the smaller bag with the Dark Crystals.

-X-

A half hour later, he was in El Nath. He dragged the bag along, all the way to the 3rd Job residency. When he entered, he said nothing. The five began pondering amongst themselves what class he exactly was, until he produced the scroll.

Roberia gasped. He handed over the Necklaces. Without another word, he left for the Holy ground for the Necklaces of Wisdom.

Rene turned to Roberia and asked "Who was he? And what's that scroll?"

Roberia told her, as well as Arec, Tylus and Pedro.

Meanwhile, Phil gave the Dark Crystals, one by one, to the talking rock, and got a Necklace of Wisdom in return for each of the Crystals. He then headed back to the Residency.

Handing over the Necklaces of Wisdom to each of the Instructors, they moved to the back of the room where there was a safe. As each Instructor chanted a spell, a layer of the safe melted away—a total of five layers in all. Inside the safe was a book with the thickness of around 10 times what a regular 3rd job skill book would have been.

They handed the heavy book over to Phil, placing it on a table. There was nothing written on the cover; the cover was blank. So was the first page, and the second, and the third, and the…

Phil flipped through the entire book. Everything was blank. There was no writing whatsoever anywhere

"Is this some kind of joke?" he asked. He couldn't keep the scorn out of his voice.

Roberia looked over and realized their mistake. He called the other four over, and one by one they began chanting another spell. Slowly, words began to appear on the cover and the pages, as well as pictures. A few minutes later, the book was filled with words and pictures.

"Oh," said Phil, not sure whether to be astonished, thankful, or what.

He flipped through the book once more. He saw words and pictures for every skill and technique for all 12 3rd job ranks. However, they only occupied half the book. So what was the other half?

He reached the beginning of the next half. The first page had a title, just as if it was the cover of the book.

On it, there was an "A" with a cross-hairs. He flipped through that section of the book and realized they were the skills and techniques for an Agent. Most of them he didn't understand, but was sure that Agent Marco would clarify for him. He placed the book into the bag, and hauled it away, heading back to the Nautilus.

When he reached the Nautilus, he went straight to Kyrin and showed her the huge book.

"Did you have any trouble?" asked Kyrin.

"Just a little," replied Phil.

She laughed again, and then said "I have something for you, too."

As Phil wondered what it was, she inserted a key into a complicated looking lock. Inside were a screen and a number of keys and knobs that looked as complicated as the Nautilus Command Board.

Kyrin muttered something to herself as she began pushing the buttons and turning the knobs. She placed a hand on the screen as some sort of fingerprint scanning matrix was activated, examining the hand that had been placed there. There was a beeping noise as a number of the red lights turned green, and a second lock opened automatically. Inside was a rifle—it looked exactly like the one Agent Marco had, except it was black instead of silver.

She handed it to him, along with a Warp Card. "Here," she said. "I'm pretty sure you know what this is. And even if you don't, Dr. Kim and Agent Marco can tell you about it. See you around."

Phil thanked her, and then went through the portal once more.

"Ah, you're back," said Dr. Kim when he reappeared inside the Omega Sector Command Center. "Did everything go alright?"

"I guess you can say that."

Dr. Kim just nodded, and said "Agent Marco is outside waiting for you" Phil thanked him and went outside, bag in one hand and rifle in the other.

Agent Marco was, _again,_ talking to General Maestro and Jr. Officer Medin. However, he stopped when he saw him, and went over to greet his student.

"Congratulations," said Agent Marco, shaking his hand. "There's something I want to give you." They went inside the Omega Sector where there was a set of cloth armor just like Agent Marco's.

"Before I tell you about the armor, let be explain what the Laser Rifle is capable of. The Laser Rifle has many functions and features. The right side has a rocket launcher, used with a specific kind. The rockets are quite small. The left side has a micro-ton bomb launcher. The bombs are very small, and are not very heavy either. This allows you to carry many with you."

"The top has a digital sniper scope with a light targeting system. The targeting system has an auto zoom-in, and a HUD, or heads-up display."

"Along with that light, it contains a floodlight as well, useful for illuminating dark areas. If you don't want to use the floodlight to give yourself away, then you can use the stealth light; it is an infrared light that sort of gives you night vision. More on that later."

"This here," he said, pointing to what seemed like a dent. "Is a laser pistol holder." He took out one of them. "These are small, and easier to carry around. Sometimes, in an emergency, you will not have time to pull out your Laser Rifle. The laser pistol is a quick-draw weapon. It too has a few functions. It will show you later."

"Along with the micro-ton bomb launcher," continued Agent Marco. "Is a grenade launcher. You may want to launch an explosive that has a bigger boom that a micro-ton bomb."

"The side opposite of the laser pistol holder contains a concealed buzz saw. It can spin up to a thousand rpm; that is, a thousand revolutions per minute."

"The rear end of the Rifle has a concealed drill. It too can spin up to a thousand rpm."

"Right in the front is a concealed bayonet. Good for stabbing things."

"Seems like there are a lot of concealed things here," replied Phil. Marco just smiled.

"And finally, the whole thing has a titanium-alloy cover. Lightweight, yet tough. At short range, you can use it as a battering weapon, thought I don't recommend you do it often, especially since you have all the other abilities at your disposal."

Agent Marco showed him the laser pistol. "It too has a light targeting system. However, its primary feature is the grappling hook. The hook has a hundred yards of wire. The hook is closed when inside, but will open when fired. Along with 'grappling,' it has a spike in the middle, so you can just fire it straight into a wall or something. Very useful in climbing; the rope is an extremely high-tensile material, capable of pulling weights up to 500 pounds." He glanced at Phil, grinned, and added "Not that it would ever have to pull a weight that heavy."

He now turned over to the rest of the equipment. "This," he explained. "Is an Ultimate Agent Suit. It has been magically and scientifically reinforced. And it looks good, too." He took down a pair off gloves. "These are Agent Gloves. They enhance your attacking ability, as well as providing a small HP boost." He removed a pair of shoes. "Ultimate Agent Shoes," he said. They enhance all of your abilities. Then he handed him a pair of receivers. "These two are an Agent Receiver and a Titanium Receiver. The Titanium Receiver contains the microphone and speaker, and the Agent Receiver receives and sends the signals. These have direct links to the Omega Sector and other Receivers. The range is very far, so it is hard for you to become out of reach. These enhance your abilities as well

Phil put them on. Each time he put one on—even the Receivers—he felt an energy that was almost equivalent to that of leveling up.

Then Agent Marco handed him a pair of sunglasses.

"This," he said. "May look like an ordinary pair of sunglasses. However, they have many functions. First of all, it ironically has night vision. This is the stealth light I was talking about; it helps enhance this item's night vision even further. Second, it has a scanning function that allows it to receive information about whatever you are seeing. The information will be displayed on the HUD, or Heads up Display, that it has. The targeting system also goes along with it."

"It also has X-ray, a heat sensor, and extremely high magnification. Lastly, it is wirelessly connected to that Laser Rifle. And of course, it has UV protection."

Phil weighed it in his hand. It didn't seem much heavier than an ordinary pair of shades.

"It's got more," added Marco. "But those are a lot more complex. What I said will do for now."

More? Phil looked at the sunglasses. So small, yet so powerful…

Agent Marco could see that his student was bewildered by all the new equipment. "Don't worry," Marco said. "You won't have to memorize everything today. And now…" Agent Marco turned around and picked up a sort of badge. "You are now an official Agent." He said, placing the item in Phil's hand. It had the same design as the "cover" the book had for the skills of an Agent. Phil put it on over the rest of the clothing. Even the badge gave him an energy that was similar to leveling up.

"There won't be anymore training today. I think you've done enough fighting for one day, especially that whole ordeal of 'five on one'. You may go rest up, or do whatever you wish. However, I want you to come out at 9:30 P.M.; there is something I want to talk to you about."

9:30 P.M. That was nighttime. Why on earth would he want to talk to him at that time? Probably a surprise quiz or something, thought Phil.

He spent most of his time reading the huge book, making himself look at the skills of the five classes before he went over to the second part. He fell asleep after a while, but woke up at 9:00. He looked at another few skills, then, looking at the clock, saw it was 9:27 P.M. He put the book down on his bed and went outside.

Agent Marco was already standing there, looking at the sky. This night, the sky was filled with stars. There was also a soft breeze. There was nobody else around; it seemed that everyone had gone to sleep.

"Ah, glad you could make it," said Agent Marco. "I was afraid you would be asleep."

"Well, I guess I'm the kind of person who does anything anyone tells me to do."

Agent Marco threw his head back and laughed. "Yes, you do seem like that kind of person."

"What were you going to tell me?" asked Phil.

"Well to start things off… do you see those stars in the sky?" Phil nodded, looking upwards himself.

"It takes millions, perhaps even billions, of years for their light to reach us. Whenever you look at the stars, you are looking into the past."

Phil tried to look interested. He was, really, but it didn't catch him like all that equipment did.

"Lasers are a type of light. Light is a type of energy, and it has been with us ever since the beginning of time. The speed of light is the fastest thing known to man, traveling at 299,792,458 meters per seconds; yet, it takes such a long time for them to reach us; the stars are that far away."

There was a soft breeze as the grass swayed in the wind.

There was a sad smile on the teacher's face; sad, yet filled with hope.

He looked at his student. "I was once the last of the Agents for a long time, extinct for eternity. There seemed to be no hope. After I was gone, the legacy of the Agents would be lost to the sands of time. Very little was written about them. They were once such a huge and power organization, and, as I have told you, a secret one. But now…I have you. Your courage, consistency, and optimism have often brought me back to my childhood years."

He looked at him. Phil was now absorbed in what he was saying while staring at the sky with a hypnotized look.

Phil finally broke away from his stare and asked him "What…classes are you? You must have at least two. You told me that the definition of an Agent was they were composed of at least two classes."

Agent Marco sighed, then said, "At first, I was a Bowman. I chose the path of the Crossbowman. However, I ended up liking speed more than power. So I…I managed to sneak into Kerning City and get Dark Lord's approval for becoming a Thief. He knew I was already a Crossbowman. However, he noted my speed and stealth, so he granted me the power of the Thieves. For the Thief, I chose the path of the Assassin, for had always favored long-ranged attacks over short-range. I was taken in as an Agent. In the end, I had learned the full extent of both of the paths' skills, all the way to Night Lord and Marksman. I made friends with the other Agents that were their. But they decided they wanted to have a normal life and settle down, so they eventually left. I was the only one who stayed behind. I then commenced to learn every single skill in every book. I may not be an expert for each of them, but I'm competent, according to General Maestro and Jr. Officer Medin.

"Why were you always talking to them? And what were you talking about?" asked Phil.

"About your future," replied Marco. "There were many things that need to be discussed and planned, such as your advancement, what you should be taught, and other things."

"Why are all the aliens still here? You're strong enough to eliminate them all yourself."

Agent Marco tapped Phil on the head as responded, "Because I knew someone like you would need to train on them."

There was another soft breeze, a zephyr, and the grass swayed once more.

On an impulse, Phil asked, "What level are you? And, if you don't mind, how old are you?"

"For my age, I am 72 years old." Phil was shocked. Marco didn't seem much older than 40; maybe his late 30s or early 40s. Marco could see the surprise of his student. "That is why I was so worried about the legacy of the Agents."

"As for my level…I lost count after I reached 450."

"450?!" Maybe he had heard it wrong maybe he said 150.

"Yes, 450," Replied Marco calmly, already knowing his student would be surprised. "An Agent is able exceed level 200. There have even been records of some reaching a thousand."

Phil was astonished for several moments, and then went back to staring at the night sky.

"Level 70 is a huge landmark in training, especially for someone employed as an Agent. The skills you will now learn are more powerful than any of the previous skills. And you will also learn skills that are to be used with the primary weapon of the Agents." He tapped his own weapon. "The Laser Rifle."

"Yes, sir," Phil said, nodding.

"Tomorrow, there will be a day of rest…the day after tomorrow…a new stage of training will start."


	5. A Normal Life?

Ch. 5: A Normal Life?

Even though Phil was told we could get up at any time he wanted, he still got up at the regular time he had always been during the last few weeks. It had become a sort of routine; he had gotten so used to it. He ate his breakfast, and went outside of the building. This time, Agent Marco was not talking with General Maestro or Jr. Officer Medin. Instead, his back was to the building, and seemed to be staring off into space, lost in his own thoughts.

Agent Marco had stated that this was a "day of rest," so probably didn't have anything planned for today. He didn't look like he was waiting for him, anyway.

Agent Marco turned around, surprised to see his student up at this time. "What are _you _doing up so early?" he asked.

"Well…I guess I've gotten used to this schedule, and it's become a routine," replied Phil.

"Careful," said Marco to Phil's surprise. "Routine is the one thing that gets you killed. With routine comes predictability; anyone will be able to predict what your next move is. 'If one could be always acquainted beforehand with the enemy's designs, one would always beat him with an inferior force.' You must be unpredictable, so no one knows what your next move is."

Phil just stood there, stunned.

Agent Marco looked at him, and then said, "You don't have to stand there. You can go do whatever you want, except get in trouble."

Phil nodded, and went off somewhere to do whatever he had planned to do.

For a while, he was either in his room reading the humungous skill book, primarily the second half, looking at words that he had never seen or heard of before, wondering what powers they would bring. Either that or he was lying on his bed, restless, daydreaming about the day he would be as powerful as his teacher, and suddenly realizing the hard, monotonous work and training he had to go through to attain that goal.

Halfway through his reading, he had Agent Marco enter his room (he had the door open, he didn't mind people coming in and out of his room—after all, the size of it made it feel more like a living room), and sat down next to Phil on the oversized bed. Agent Marco told Phil that it was extremely likely that he had ESP. Phil had no idea what his teacher was saying; even when Marco said it stood for extra-sensory perception, he still did not understand.

"It means that your senses are sharpened to the point that you can feel something outside of your regular five senses."

"I do?"

"Yes. That was one of the things I was talking to General Maestro and Jr. Officer Medin about. Through everything we observed about your training, this was one of the things that we noticed. That is perhaps why you leveled so fast, and your reflexes are so fast as well."

Phil nodded, though he didn't quite understand everything yet.

"You also seem to be ambidextrous."

"Ambi-what?"

"Ambidextrous. It means you can use one hand as well as the other. Usually, a person is either right handed or left handed. You are both. This will come extremely useful in battle; you can use two different weapons at the same time, one with each hand."

"I can?"

"Yes," said Agent Marco, nodding.

"Well, that's all. You can go back to your reading." Marco left.

A few hours later, Phil came outside and did some running, even though that he wasn't told to do any. At first, Phil had thought this day was going to be fun; a rest from all the tedious and monotonous training was nice. But now he had mixed feelings about this day; he found himself bored out of his mind. And he was also anxious, to some extent, to learn about the new skills; the skills and artes that were almost to be lost forever. To kill time, he tried out a couple of the 3rd job skills, sometimes going out into Off-Limits (with permission), usually failing to successfully cast them.

-X-

The next day, he once again woke up at the regular time, ate breakfast at the regular time, and came out at the regular time. A routine. Still, he had not forgotten the words of his teacher: routine is the one thing that gets you killed.

"So," Phil asked Marco, bouncing on his feet and swinging his arms to and fro. "What are we going to learn today?"

Agent Marco smiled, and then said "I've never seen anyone so anxious to learn something as hard as this."

Phil stopped moving, and then replied, "Well, I've done a lot of training. I've sort of gotten the feel."

"Alright, then. As I have already said, the third job skills are more powerful and than any of the previous skills. But due to the fact that they are more powerful, they are also harder to learn. Have you learned any by yourself?"

Phil thought for a few moments, and then said "I've tried Brandish and Shout. And Combo Attack. Though, I hadn't been able to get any orbs. I was pretty good with the White Knight's elemental charges, but couldn't set off Charged Blow. I also tried the Marauder's Energy Charge, but couldn't hold onto energy long enough to use Energy Blast or Energy Drain. Then there were Blizzard and Inferno. I was able to use those. I was also able to summon a Thunder Spear, though I wasn't able to aim well because I sort of had a hard time controlling it. And then…"

"That's enough," Marco said, raising his hand and cutting him off. "I think you can practice those in your spare time. However, there is a new concept that you must learn."

"A third job concept?"

"No. The concept of science. I am sure you've heard about it. Ice melting at zero degrees Celsius, gravity keeps you down and not float away, every actions has its equal and opposite reaction." Marco looked at Phil, who was listening intently.

"However, this science isn't the usual science that you usually see or hear about. This is going deeper. Much deeper."

"You see, virtually all the Agents' skills are linked to that science." Someone brought over a stand, displaying a picture of an atom.

"The first thing that you must know about is the atoms. As you may or may not know, atoms make up everything there is; they are the building blocks of virtually everything. They are so small, they, well; let's just say you're not going to see one anytime soon.

"There are also these sub-atomic particles that make up the atoms; at the center there's the nucleus, which is composed of neutrons and protons. Neutrons have a neutral charge; protons have a positive charge. Around them, they have electrons orbiting them, which contain a negative charge.

"Each atom is like this. There are these elements—no, not the wind, fire, ice, earth, thing—have a different number of protons, electrons, and neutrons. It has been said that the world operates on the force/ energy called mana. However, all mana literally comes from the energy of the atoms; the orbiting of the electrons, and the chemical reactions of the atoms, which will be explained later."

Agent Marco flipped the first image over, with the second showing a picture of the Periodic Table.

"This is the Periodic Table. It contains over a hundred elements." He could see that his student was baffled by it.

"Don't worry. You don't have to remember it. This is to show the different elements; at least, in science."

Agent Marco showed a few more images, and then stopped.

"The reason I am showing you all this, is because the Agents' skills relate directly to this." He somehow pulled out the skill book that Phil had, and flipped to the page where it contained the Agents' skills.

"You have known about mana, and how they are used; by harnessing the energy, they can use with their attacks. However, all of this actually comes from the atoms."

"The atoms are the base of all this. The Agents take the energy directly from the atoms—atomic energy, so to speak. This is how their artes and attacks are so powerful."

"Controlling the mana is tough; however, controlling the energy from the atoms is even tougher. That is why people must wait until the third job to learn how to use the power of the atoms, since it takes such an incredible amount of force and energy. Movement produces energy; the movement of the electrons orbiting the nucleus at lightning fast speed is what produces the energy of the mana. So basically, mana comes from atoms."

"But…if it's so hard, how will I be able to do it?" asked Phil.

"Don't worry. We're just going to learn about this for only a bit. You will practice the other skills; that will help you with controlling the energy of the atoms.

-X-

"I remember you were awed by weapons and gadgets I showed you 2 days ago."

Phil just smiled.

"I think we'll look at those things as a whole. They will also help with your training. After all, you do need to use those effectively and efficiently as well.

They went into the building, where all the gadgets and equipment were.

"I'll start with the rockets." He picked one up. It wasn't much larger than a Steely.

"These are extremely small. However, they pack quite a punch. They are usually stored in magazine." He showed him the magazine, and then said "This magazine stores a dozen of these rockets. They go into your Laser Rifle, which can be launched from there."

"Due to its size, it can only carry a minimal amount of fuel. This is why there is something that is called a 'ramjet' inside. A ramjet is a type of engine that is designed to work at very high speeds, at least 600 miles per hour. When the fuel is exhausted, the fuel canister and main engine drop out and disintegrates—that I will talk about later—and the ramjet kicks in. Air is forced, or 'rammed' should I say, through the air intake vents at the front of the engine. They have no moving parts and are very lightweight." Agent Marco held it in his hand as if weighing it.

"There are also the fins and the camera. The fins flip out when the canister and engine drop out. They control the flight of the rocket, allowing extremely tight aerial maneuvers. The camera locks onto the target, which is also wirelessly connected to the Rifle. The nose cone, the top of the rocket, has an impact trigger, so they won't detonate in midair or inside the magazine. It detonates the approximately 40 grams of plastic explosive packed inside."

He held up another container, similar to the one that held the rockets, but significantly smaller.

"This contains the micro-ton bombs. They are small, so you can easily carry dozens of them. You place these inside the compartment that holds them."

"They explode upon impact, although they are not armed until it is channeled through the Laser Rifle; that way, they don't explode inside the container."

"Now about your other equipment. Your Receivers inside each have a small weight, a microgenerator, and a capacitor—a device that stores energy in a magnetic field. As you move your head, the weight moves, which causes the generator to spin; this allows it to keep it charged."

"The two also generate a magnetic field themselves. It is completely harmless to the wearer; however, they are able to minimize damage that comes to your head."

"Next is the suit. It is made from a countless number of materials, such as carbon nanofibers; it would be tedious and probably a waste of time to list everything. Let's just say that it is bulletproof, fireproof, waterproof, laser resistant, and magic resistant."

Phil was sitting quietly, listening to every single detail the entire time.

Agent Marco continued. "Now for the shoes. The main thing is that they have retractable cleats. The cleats are drawn and withdraw when you tap the shoes together. There is a system within them that causes that. Useful when you're in icy places like El Nath, or when you just want to increase the damage of a kick."

He then showed him how to effectively and quickly activate all the functions of all the gadgets, including the sunglasses and shoes. Phil wondered how he would remember all of this, especially if he was in the middle of a fight.

"The Laser Rifle, as I have said before, is the primary weapon of the Agents. However, as you have probably guessed, it works in a very different way than swords, guns, wands— whatever. It contains a battery that is a little bigger than an eighth of a car battery. However, it is nearly ten times more powerful. It too is charged in a similar way the receivers are charged, except everything is, well, bigger."

"However, you cannot rely on this function the entire time during battle, as during the longest and most intense fights—like the on you had for your test—uses a great deal of energy. That is where the mana, science, and atoms come in."

"When you do this, you 'channel' the energy, mana or atomic, through the weapon for whatever attack you are using. This allows you to execute an arte or attack without using the battery. Though it may seem difficult, once you get used to it, it will be as easy as using Arrow Blow."

"When you control the atomic energy, it is usually unstable. When you use Final Attack, you are using the leftover mana and energy from a previous attack; this, however, goes beyond mana. There is an even more powerful energy than atomic. When you go straight into the nucleus of an atom, you are controlling _nuclear energy_. That can be more destructive; they have been known to level a city 20 times the size of Perion."

Phil thought about it for a moment. Atomic energy and nuclear energy. 20 times the size of Perion. They seemed so powerful; how could he possibly handle the strain? And he was so close to the power, yet so far away… Still, he thought about the day when you would be able to control this power.

"That is, at the moment, the most I can tell you," Agent Marco said, interrupting his daydream and brought him back to reality. As if Agent Marco had read his mind, he said "There is a lot of studying for you to do if you wish to be able to handle this power effectively. You cannot sit idly by and have all this power come to you."

Phil nodded. Marco's words had made him realize the long, treacherous road in between. _How am I going to become like this? I may have ESP, and maybe know a bit from each class, but I'm still a person—an ordinary person, like everyone else._

"Follow me." Agent Marco said, and, like a machine, Phil got up and automatically followed him

They went to his room. All the weapons had been removed. The bookshelf, along with all the skill books describing the second job skills, was gone as well. In their place was an even large bookshelf that held about 3 times as many books and the oversized 3rd job/ Agent skill book. He wondered why there weren't any level 70 weapons around. He had been given them for his 3rd job advancement; where were they?"

"There are many branches of science; it is not something simple. You must learn about all of them, or at least have a little knowledge about each one."

Phil scanned the titles of each book. They were all placed in alphabetical order. Aerodynamics, Agriculture, Anatomy, Astronomy, Atomic Physics, Biology, Botany, Chemistry, Earth Science, Forensics, Mathematics, Medical, Nuclear Physics, Optics, Physics, Psychology, Radiology, Stoichiometry, Tectonics … There were more, of course. There seemed to be no end to the books.

Looking around, he realized Agent Marco was gone. A few moments later, he returned carrying something. Phil instantly recognized it. It was the sword that looked like a katana that he had seen Agent Marco wielding, though he had never talked about this before.

"I had always planned to give this to you," Agent Marco said.

"A sword?" Phil thought out loud.

"Yes and no. What you see is a sword, but it is much more than that."

Phil wondered what he meant.

"As I have said," Agent Marco continued, "It would be exceedingly difficult for you to carry every single weapon type with you. This is the perfect solution."

"This sword is called an Astral Blade. However, it has other forms with other names as well."

"Forms?"

Agent Marco nodded. "It can transform into other weapon types—an axe, pole-arm, bow, crossbow, dagger, claw, spear, blunt weapon, staff, and gun. I would have given it to you earlier; it would have made the advancement test a lot easier; but it is quite difficult to control the transformations, especially if you're still in the second job." He handed the weapon to Phil. He slashed the air with it, its weight defying its size.

"Where did you get it?" asked Phil.

"The Omega Sector had gotten a contract with the Glimmer Man in New Leaf City. The Glimmer Man wanted Elpam Elixirs from Elpam Gorlab, and Elpam Gorlab needed Elpam Magnets. The Grays here drop them, so it was easy for us to obtain the magnets. In turn, he gave us this thing— a 'Materia Orb.' Spindle here, as you may have heard, can make anything. It was Spindle who created this."

"Why don't you just trade Elpam Magnets to Elpam Gorlab for the Elpam Elixirs, then trade the Elpam Elixirs to the Glimmer Man for the Orbs?"

"I guess the Glimmer Man wants the glory for himself," replied Agent Marco.

Phil nodded. "So, uh, what do the other forms look like?"

Agent Marco took it, muttered something, and it changed into an axe. If Phil had not personally seen it transform, he would not have believed it could do so.

"It really becomes easy once you get used to it," said Marco. "You can use your mind to make it transform."

Phil took the axe and concentrated. He felt like fainting. Just when he thought he would pass out, it turned into a staff.

"Well, have fun with your new toy," Agent Marco and began to leave.

"Wait," called Phil. Agent Marco stopped. "What are the other forms called?"

"The axe is called the Crescent Moon. The blunt is called Cosmic Scepter. The bow is called Andromeda Bow. The crossbow is called Void Hunter. The dagger, Nebula Dagger. Claw, Black Hole. Spear is Sunspear, Pole-arm is Heavenly Messenger, Staff is Celestial Staff, and gun is Abyss Shooter."

Phil nodded. "All the names are related to space." Phil said. "So do they come from space?"

"In a way, yes. All the forms of the weapons were made from something called the Black Versal Materia, which was made into a more stable form called the White Versal Materia, and finally into the Materia Orb, which was combined with a number Black Crystals. All the forms are made from the same things. There were many other items that had to be put to use to allow them to be fused together for this weapon to have this effect, but it was worth it. And most of it was paid by those useless Elpam Magnets. At least, they're pretty much useless to us. Besides, the Grays seem to have a lot of them these days."

After that, Agent Marco left, and Phil was left to his own devices; mainly, playing with his new "toy."

The following weeks, he read the textbooks that that in the bookshelf, and learned about the periodic table and its elements, the parts of the body, different color blood cells, the stars, light, plants, photosynthesis and the Calvin Cycle, Adenosine Triphosphate, fingerprints, psychology, the electromagnetic spectrum, how light changes speed in different mediums, chemical reactions, thermite reactions, how to navigate using the stars, the electron orbitals, and hundreds of other things from the books. Phil was pretty sure he wouldn't use nine-tenths of the information taught, but, as Agent Marco had replied, "You never know what 10 percent you're going to use." Agent Marco also insisted at nothing that's learned in life is ever wasted.

The learning process was both interesting and tedious at the same time. It was interesting to know how all of these every day and normal objects could be used in so many different ways. It was tedious because he had to perfect the techniques, which was time consuming and eventually became "boring."

Half way through learning all that science, Agent Marco had said, "I think you've learned enough science for now. It seems that you will be able to handle the Agents' skills well enough."

He had already seen them before, but this was when he had finally truly understood them and really paid attention.

The following skills were presented at the index:

Laser Charge

Laser Blast

Laser Drill

Laser Arc

Rapid Blast

Sonic Blast

Pulse Cannon

Freeze Ray

Heat Wave

Zap Cannon

Formula 7924

Photon Beam

Sonic Dash

Stealth

Warp

Force Field

Mitosis

Phil looked through them, unsure of what to make. He remembered Rapid Blast, which his teacher had used to clear out Off-Limits. He hadn't really learned any of the others, but could guess what they were supposed to do by their names.

"Laser Charge," said Agent Marco. "Is the charge-up skill. It is needed to use Laser Blast and Laser Drill; at least, without using heaps of energy from the battery. Laser Arc and Rapid Blast do not take much, so you can use a weaker version of Laser Charge it execute them; so little that it is basically nothing."

"Laser Blast is one of the most powerful skills of an Agent. It can level a building three times the size of Kerning Square. Laser Drill can slice through virtually any material; a hot knife through butter, so to speak. Laser Arc just spreads the energy over a long area. Rapid Blast is like Hurricane, though it fires a dozen shots per second instead of 8."

"Sonic Blast is much different from the previous skills I talk about. In fact, it has nothing to do with lasers; it eventually won't have anything to do with the Laser Rifle at all. Just like what the name says, it unleashes sonic blast, which is of hundreds of decibels, and sends it forward. As you have learned, sounds are caused by vibrations in the atoms. You cause a 'super vibration,' a high frequency sound wave, in the general direction to execute this attack."

"Pulse Cannon is more like an Archer's Dragon Pulse. It unleashes energy that pushes back the enemy. Good if you don't want to whack at an enemy all day."

"Freeze Ray, Heat Wave, Zap Cannon, Formula 7924, and Photon Beam are all elemental attacks. Freeze Ray is ice, Heat Wave is fire, Zap Cannon is lightning, Formula 7924 is poison, and Photon Beam is holy. To execute these, you do the same for all of them. You channel the energy through the Laser Rifle. The Laser Rifle will then convert the energy to whatever element you need, be it ice, fire, lightning, poison, or holy; the weapon will heat it up for you, make it colder, change the element, whatever."

"Sonic Dash allows you to move at a very high speed for a split second; basically, you 'dash forward' at the speed of sound. Or close to the speed of sound."

"Stealth allows you to move and attack without being seen. You can say this is the improved version of Darksight, and you do not lose any speed. This is because you bend the light waves around you, so no light reflects back to them. It also makes you immune to attacks that are based on light. The attacks you use will be slightly weakened, even though you are invisible. They the attacks you use the moment you exit this condition will be greatly amplified."

"Warp is like Teleport. It has a much longer distance than Teleport, though, and requires a lot more energy. Because of this, though, the position you may want to reappear at cannot be guaranteed, so not even you can be exactly sure where you will reappear."

"Force Field, as you may have guess from the name, allows you to create a force field that blocks virtually all attacks. There are a few that can pass through, but they are rare and arcane. It may be hard to maintain when you first start using it, but you will soon be able to hold it until your mana and battery reserves are depleted. And maybe even after that."

"And finally, we have Mitosis. It is a recovery type skill, like Heal. You have doubtless read from the Biology book about the process of mitosis, the splitting of cells. This skill is perhaps the most scientific of all of them. You basically speed up the entire process; the wounds attained and blood cells lost are quickly replaced, and with the new cells, they are able to seal those wounds a lot sooner."

"So there you have it. These are the basics of an Agent."

"Basics?!" said Phil, not sure of what his overall reaction should be.

Agent Marco nodded. "There are more, but they are much too hard for someone in the 70's to use effectively, or even control. These should be enough for you for now."

Agent Marco let Phil look at the book himself; it was only now that Phil realized that each of the Agent's skills he had mentioned required almost the same amount of pages it took for just all the skills of a class's abilities.

He sighed and closed the book, then opened it again. He decided to practice some of the other classes' skills. After all, Marco did say that controlling the other skills would help learn to control the Agents' skills.

-X-

"Whee!" Shouted Evelyne as she flew through the air with Flash Jump for the umpteenth time.

"You're having way too much fun with Flash Jump," replied Celina. "You should work on your other skills. Like Shadow Partner. Or Avenger. Or even Dark Flare. There's a reason why we came to El Nath"

"Those are for the boring," replied Evelyne as she flew through the air one more time. When she landed, Celina said, "I think you've been flying around enough for now. You have to think about when you come to battle. Just train on your other skills. You're level 72, you know."

"Oh, alright."

The two bought several Red Bean Soups and mana potions, and then headed to the El Nath fields.

"Avenger!" yelled Evelyne as the oversized star sliced through a number of monsters

"Lucky Seven!" the pair of shurikens finished off whatever was left.

"Oh hey, I almost forgot." Celina came rushing—or rather, teleported—to Evelyne. She had somehow gotten a bagful of Summoning Rocks which she handed to Evelyne

"Seriously? You know I hate to summon stuff," complained Evelyne.

"You need to practice your artes. You need to practice Shadow Partner; it doubles your attack rate, in a way. You need it during battle."

"You sound like my mom." whined Evelyne. They were suddenly interrupted by Dark Hector. "Holy Arrow!" shouted Celina, and got rid of it.

"Just do it," muttered Celina.

"Oh, alright." She grabbed a rock, handed the bag back to Celina, and shouted "Shadow Partner!" A shadow in humanoid form appeared behind her, copying her every move. As she threw two stars, the figure threw two stars as well. If she threw an oversized star, it threw an oversized star as well.

"It's not that bad," Evelyne said after a few minutes. "But… It seems like I'm wasting stars. I mean, it throws stars, but they are a lot weaker than the ones I throw."

"We're not talking about damage here," replied Celina, who was standing nearby. "What we want is a maximum number of attacks in the minimum amount of time. Besides, you are a Hermit."

"Oh, alright."

"You say that a lot."

"Whatever. Avenger!" A pair of enormous stars appeared and was hurled at the surrounding monsters.

"Not bad," said Celina. "Though you could work more on your accuracy."

"I'm working on it," muttered Evelyne. "It's cold, by the way."

"Here. Have another Red Bean Soup."

Evelyne gulped it down just as the shadow she had summoned disappeared.

"See!"

"See what?"

"The stuff that you summon keeps disappearing! I hate that!"

"Of course they do. My Holy Dragons keep disappearing. Live with it. Besides, that's why I bought so many Rocks." She handed another Rock to Evelyne.

"I'll show you," said Celina as she grabbed a Summoning Rock for herself. "Summon Dragon!" The Holy Dragon appeared by Celina's side, awaiting its summoner's order.

"Yeah, well, you have something that actually moves and attacks on its own," Evelyne replied dryly. "I have to attack myself for this shadow to attack. It's so boring."

A monster suddenly appeared out of nowhere; neither girl had a chance to see what it really was before the Holy Dragon blasted it to oblivion.

"See!" exclaimed Evelyne. "That's what I'm talking about. Yours will attack on its own; mine won't. Plus, it would be nice to have a pet."

Celina sighed, and then said "Just keep practicing your artes." Celina looked at her friend for a moment and added, "And we need to do something about your hair."

"Whaddya mean, my hair?" wailed Evelyne.

"It's too long. If you were a Magician, Warrior, or Archer, I wouldn't have thought about it much. But you need to do tight maneuvers; it'll get in your way."

"I like it this way," said Evelyne, and threw her hair around. Part of it got tangled in her Identity, covering her eyes. At that exact same moment, a group of Dark Hectors came rushing out, growling. She knew there was a threat, but she couldn't it was.

"Help, help me Celina!" she screamed. Celina sighed again. Lifting her staff, she shouted "Shining Ray!" The white light struck down the Dark Hectors. Her Holy Dragon finished them off.

Celina walked over to Evelyne, yanked her hair back, and untangled her hair. "Thanks," said Evelyne, smiling sheepishly.

"Lemme fix your hair," said Celina. She tied it all together into a long ponytail, in the process using up every single band, clip, and elastic she had on her, as well as several of Evelyne's.

"Can I have another Red Bean Soup?" asked Evelyne.

Celina handed another one over to her friend, who downed it in one gulp.

"C'mon, let's go train on more monsters," said Celina. "And hopefully your hair doesn't get tangled again so I won't have to save you."

The two wandered further down the snowfields.

-X-

"Thunder Spear!" Shouted Phil. A lance completely made of lightning appeared in his hands. Agent Marco had taught him how to summon weapons that were purely elemental; Phil had first questioned the idea; after all, he had the transforming weapon; he had wondered when he would ever have to use these. Agent Marco's response was "That weapon may not always be in your hands." He had wondered what his teacher had meant. His teacher then said "Remember your job advancement?"

That was when he had remembered that the weapons had had been constantly knocked out of his hands, and at first, he had accepted reluctantly accepted the training. Now, he had thought it was so cool; they were extremely flashy, nice to show off to other people, even though the only people that would have even glanced at him were the soldiers.

There were still two more forms he still had to learn—Flame Sword and Ice Axe. He was practicing this, since he already knew the arte.

Shouting "Dragon Buster!" he killed a group of Mateons. The weapon suddenly disappeared.

_Oh, well,_ he thought. _I can just summon it again_. He liked the sensation of summoning holding the weapon in his hands as well. He had first thought it would be extremely painful and would electrocute him. In fact, it was just the opposite.

A mob of Mateons had ganged up on him now, obviously not very happy at the death of their friends.

He pulled out his Astral Blade and commanded "Combo Attack, Coma!" the mob received the same fate as their friends.

He moved in the direction of Boswell Field. As he headed in that direction, he was hit by a projectile from a Mateon's ray gun. But it didn't feel the same as it did before he got to third job. It was more like a tap of the back; it barely did any damage to him.

_The suit._ He thought. _It has that much defense._ He remembered all the things the Agent equipment was capable of. He wondered what else it could do.

-X-

"Shadow Partner, Lucky Seven!" screamed Evelyne as a hail of stars mowed down another group of Hectors.

"Drain!" The pair of stars struck another Hector as she felt energy returning to her. She looked around, seeing Celina standing idly.

"Why aren't you helping me kill these monsters?!" She shouted at Celina as she threw four more stars.

"You've gotta learn to stand on your own too feet."

"My own two feet, my ass," Evelyne muttered under her breath.

"I'm level 99, and you're just 72. I'm more than 20 levels higher than you. You've gotta work."

Evelyne mumbled something inaudible.

"You want help? Here you go. Holy Dragon!" The Holy Dragon materialized from thin air.

Smiling, Celina said to it, "Go help my friend over there," pointing towards Evelyne.

The Dragon gave a grunt, nodding, and lumbered over to the Hermit, attacking the monsters every now and then. Celina walked over to the nearest tree and sat down, taking out her skill book "Advanced Holy Magic" and started reading.

"What are you doing?!" screamed Evelyne as she killed a mob of monsters with dual Avengers.

Celina barely looked up. "You asked for help, and I gave you help."

Evelyne looked at the Dragon, steadily attacking another group of monsters.

"You call this help?! Cast doom to the freakin' monsters!" She didn't have a chance to say any more as a Yeti wandered into the area. Evelyne struck it several times, with a bit of help from the Dragon, but all it served to do was anger it, and it cast a number of buffs on itself.

"Celina! Cast dispel on this freakin' Yeti!"

"This will be good practice for you," replied Celina coolly, her face still buried in her book. "Besides, you won't always have someone to cast Dispel for you."

It pounded the ground just as Evelyne jumped up, and leapt over the Yeti with flash jump in a somersault.

"Shadow partner, dark flare!" commanded Evelyne as she grabbed another summoning rock.

"Not bad," said Celina, still not looking up. "You're actually using dark flare for once."

"Of course I'm using dark flare, you fool! This is a life-threatening situation!"

"You're actually becoming smarter for once."

"Oh, so I was an idiot before? Lucky Seven!" Four Steelies flew across the cold and struck the Yeti as the Dragon launched another shot at it. The Dragon suddenly disappeared.

"Your 'help' has expired!" screamed Evelyne.

Celina got up and put her book back in her jacket pocket; she had been in the middle of reading how to cast Mystic Door. She stood up and commanded "Teleport mastery, teleport!" She teleported past the Yeti, stunning it, and then rained Shining Ray upon it, while Evelyne threw a not-stop stream of Lucky Seven attacks at it. It quickly fell under the power of the two.

Evelyne brushed snow and dirt off herself, and then said, "Now that's what I'm talking about. See? Training would go much faster if you were actually helping me."

"I guess I'll help you. For now."

"For now?! What are you—" She suddenly froze in mid sentence as a new entity appeared. "HOLY SHIT!"

Celina turned around to see what her friend was staring at.

"Oh, crap," muttered Celina. "We must've gone too far into El Nath."

A Snowman had come sliding towards then, already starting to attack them.

"RUN!" screamed Evelyne. Celina was only too happy to comply.

-X-

"Strafe!" Four golden flew from Phil's Andromeda Bow, killing the Plateon instantly.

"Arrow Rain!" Hundreds of blue shards rained down from the sky, striking and killing any aliens that happened to be nearby. At first, making the weapon transform had been quite a difficult task, costing him an enormous amount of time and energy the first the first few trials. Now it was a piece a cake, probably as easy as breathing. He walked around and, seeing a Mecateon coming at him, raised his weapon, in the form of a dagger, and shouted "Assaulter!"

He tore through the alien, striking it 3 times in the blink of an eye—it didn't even have time to charge its weapons—and reappeared behind it. The Mecateon fell, destroyed.

He smiled. It was kind of fun to be able to use all these skills without having to draw a new weapon every time; he would just make the weapon in his hand change form.

"Savage Blow!" He shred apart another Mecateon. This was actually starting to get fun.

He made his weapon turn into a Void Hunter—the crossbow—and froze another group of aliens. He finished them off with arrow eruption and strafe.

He stopped, and then sheathed his weapon. He had another weapon to play with. He took out his Laser Rifle and held it in his hands the way Agent Marco always did.

_Now how do you use this again?_

He accidentally pressed the trigger and a burst of light shot out of it, killing an unfortunate Mateon that happened to be in the line of fire.

He aimed his weapon at another Mateon, and fired again. _Now what were the skills?_

The first one that came to mind was Rapid Blast. Of course, he could just hold down the trigger and his weapon would shoot repeatedly. But if he didn't want to wear out the battery inside, he would have to channel energy through the battery from…from the atoms.

It would be just like gathering the energy from the mana, he told himself. Just slightly harder. It might be hard on the first try, but it would end up being easy, like making his weapon transform. Nothing too it.

"Invincible," he muttered. He would need his full concentration. He closed his eyes as he gathered the so called "atomic energy." He felt a sensation as it came to him. It was a different feeling than gathering the energy from mana. There was a sudden rush, and he instinctively shouted "Laser Charge!" His weapon whirred with energy. He wasn't sure why he'd said that. But maybe he could see how powerful Laser Blast is.

"Laser Blast!" He bellowed. A blast of light, brighter than anything he had ever seen before, exploded out of his weapon. _I sure am glad I'm wearing these shades._ But he had no time to think anything else. The force of the attack threw him backwards as he slammed into a tree. Thankfully, it held. Even in pain, he could see the immensity of the attack. It completely obliterated all the aliens, Mateons, Plateons, and Mecateons, of the entire area. There was nothing it left. All the aliens, as well as their equipment, had disintegrated.

_So this is the beginning power of an Agent._ This was Laser Charge and Laser Blast at their first levels. And this was his first try. Who knew what wonders it could do when fully mastered?

These thoughts were quickly put aside when he also realized the risks. He had been lucky not to have been knocked out, or even killed, by the attack. The recoil had been tremendous. How powerful would the recoil be as the attack became more powerful?

-X-

"This is not good," muttered Celina.

"Tell me something I don't know."

Both were running in the general direction of El Nath. Evelyne was using flash jump, and Celina, teleport. Amazingly, however, the Snowman had managed to keep up with them with its skis. It was obviously thirsty for blood. Human blood.

As they got to a downward slope, the Snowman was somehow able to move faster than either of them, getting in front of them and blocking the only way back to town off. A number of Jr. Yetis appeared in front of it, already moving towards them.

"Got any return scrolls?" asked Evelyne.

"No. And I don't know Mystic Door either."

"Don't remind me. Well, only one thing left to do."

They cast shadow partner, haste, dark flare, Holy Dragon, Bless, and whatever support skills they knew, as the two prepared for the fight of their lives.

Celina began the fight by showering the monsters with shining ray, and Evelyne sent a torrent of stars at the monsters. They were unexpectedly hit by an ice glob it spit out and before they could react, the Snowman cast a cloud of coldness, which slowed their movements and caused significant damage to them while they were in it.

Celina cast heal after they moved out, but the Jr. Yetis kept coming; the Snowman was summoning them at a surprisingly fast rate.

"Too bad we don't have any fire artes," muttered Evelyne.

"Don't speak so soon," said Celina closing her eyes.

"What are you—"

"Fire arrow!" The flaming projectile sailed across the snow, striking down several Jr. Yetis and caused a significant amount of damage to the Snowman.

"How did you…Look out!"

Celina opened her eyes to see the monster, along with at least of a dozen newly summoned Jr. Yetis charging at them.

At that same moment, Celina was stunned by it. Evelyne was the next victim.

"Shout!" When the two recovered, they saw that it was the Jr. Yetis and the Snowman turn to be stunned.

"Combo Attack, Coma!" The attack struck down all the Jr. Yetis.

"Brandish!" Evelyne and Celina couldn't see the attacker behind the Snowman, but it was obvious the Snowman was in great pain, being battered by dozens of stabs.

The Snowman fell dead after a few more hits by the new arrival.

"Heh…nothing like a little Shout to help with Chance Attack,"; bending down to pick up the items the Snowman had left; he obviously had no idea there were two more people around.

Looking up, he said "Oh, hey. Didn't notice you two there. You can have some of the stuff here."

Evelyne and Celina looked at the Warrior. Obviously a Crusader, from the skills he had used. The two walked over to him.

"Here's a Varkit," he said, handing it over to Evelyne. "Unless of course, you're a Hermit. Oh. And a Dark Bazura." He handed that over to Celina.

"Uh, thanks," both of them said in unison.

_Typical of a male warrior to act so nicey-nicey and generous in front females, _Evelyne thought. Evelyne looked at him. He seemed strangely familiar…

"Brent, is that you?"

The Crusader abruptly stopped whatever he was doing and looked up at the Hermit.

"How do you know—?" He suddenly recognized the long, pink hair, and the blue eyes. "Evelyne?"

"You actually know this guy?" asked Celina, not sure whether to be shocked, awed, or both.

"Yeah," replied Evelyne, as if everything was completely normal, which probably was for her. "He's one of guys I saved at Pig Beach from that annoying Assassin."

Brent's face turned red when he heard the word "save".

"Well, I guess he's returned the favor," said Celina.

"How come you were here? In El Nath, and fought this monster?"

"Oh, I train a lot. El Nath is one of my favorite places to train."

"What level are you?" Celina asked Brent.

"Now? A hundred and ten."

"Holy…I'm only 99," muttered Celina.

"How often do you train?"

"If you really want to know…I, uh, sleep only about 5 hours a day."

"WHAT?!" the girls shouted in unison.

Brent merely nodded.

Evelyne whispered to Celina "And he's one year younger than you."

"He's 16?!" Celina shouted.

"Yeah, I'm sixteen," said Brent, who was still rummaging through the pile of items the Snowman had dropped. He obviously hadn't heard anything else they said.

"You two still training?"

"I guess," replied Celina. "After all, Evelyne still needs to level up. She's only 72."

"Don't remind me," muttered Evelyne.

"I can help," said Brent, drawing his sword: a Devil's Sunrise.

"Really!" cried Evelyne, her eyes sparkling.

"Yes, really," Brent said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"I guess he can help fight off any more Snowmen that come along," said Celina dryly, rolling her eyes.

The three headed into the snowfields of El Nath.

-X-

"Soul Arrow, Inferno Blizzard!" Spears of ice that was set aflame, yet somehow not having the ice immediately melt, flew across the field and struck down a dozen or so Grays.

Phil made his Void Hunter transform into a Celestial Staff and waved it, shouting "Icy Explosion!" Ice spikes and flames alike went flying in every direction. Phil looked around. It was fun fusing fire and ice together.

"Alright, play time's over," he said to himself. His weapon now an Astral Blade, he commanded "Combo Attack, Charged Blow!" He killed another group of aliens and stunned the rest.

"Lightning Charge, Coma!"

He made his Astral Blade turn into an Andromeda Bow, strung the bowstring and commanded "Soul Arrow, Drain!" A glowing arrow shot across the grass and impaled another Gray as he felt a bit of energy return to him.

Admiring his "handiwork," he sheathed his sword and drew his Laser Rifle. He glanced at his utility belt, which Marco had given him when he had gone back to the Omega Sector for a rest from his training. It had contained holders to hold the rocket magazines, grenades, micro-ton bomb boxes, his laser pistol, and several other gadgets and items as well. He loaded a rocket magazine into the Laser Rifle and peered through the scope. There was only one Gray in sight, and he thought he could try it on that one.

There was a sudden relaying of messages, one after another, from the scope as it focused in on the alien.

TARGET ACQUIRED

TARGET LOCKED-ON

FIRE WHEN READY

Phil pressed the trigger to launch the rocket. It burst out of the launcher as it flew across Kulan Field at an incredible speed. The entire process of the rocket—the separating of the fuel canister and engine, the opening of the fins, the ramjet kicking in—happened all so quickly that it was as if it all happened at once. It struck the Gray and there was a big and loud explosion, dwarfing the scream of the alien.

Phil lowered his weapon in disbelief of what a single tiny rocket was able to do. And he hadn't even been particularly careful with the aiming or anything.

When he returned to the Omega Sector, Agent Marco told him that the "true training" would begin the following week.

-X-

After a few hours of training, Evelyne was boosted to level 76, and well on her way to her next level, in the process learning a number of new skills. Celina reached her hundredth level, and Brent was close to attaining his 111th level. The two thanked him for helping them as they returned to the El Nath town. Brent bid farewell to his old friend and newly made friend, and said he was going to Leafre to check out some of those monsters, and also look for new equipment.

"So," Evelyne said to Celina with a smirk after he had gone. "Looks like _you_ have some training to do as well."

Celina ignored her friend's remark, and said "So…how do you like meso up and shadow meso?"

"They're nice. It's gonna be easy getting rich with meso up!" She punched the air. "And with shadow meso, I won't need Dispel all the time."

"Like that time when you fought the Yeti? If you had known shadow meso, you could've removed those buffs yourself."

"So I'll do it myself next time."

"Finally, you're growing up to be an independent girl." Celina said, half congratulating and half sarcastically. "And how about shadow web?" Celina added.

"Oh, it's nice not having to have to chase monsters around, and of course, still targets and a lot easier hit than mobile targets. It seemed to help Brent a lot too, since he's a Warrior."

"You need to work on your accuracy," said Celina. "So you won't have to use Shadow Web all the time."

"Like I didn't already know that," retorted Evelyne.

"Well," said Celina, "It looks like we can head back to Victoria Island for now. You've done enough leveling for one day. "

-X-

For the next six months, Phil's training became as intense as ever. He started each day running 300 laps and doing 300 push-ups and sit-ups and just about every other possible exercise. He ran obstacle courses, scaled 400-foot-tall "cliffs," all the while carrying packs that weighed at least 200 pounds; sometimes they were 300 pounds—all in the most extreme conditions, while it was raining, in freezing weather and blazing heat.

He learned how to operate his Laser Rifle to the highest degree of effectiveness, to use every function of the weapon in a heartbeat; he learned every single function of all the equipment and gadgets he was issued to the fullest extent, from how to activate the cleats on his shoes to the night vision in his sunglasses. He learned how to use the computers, how to hack and write programs (though that was considered a more minor thing.) He learned how to draw his laser pistol, aim, and shoot in less than a blink of an eye. He was taught the art of espionage/ deception and survival even in the worst conditions, as well as the skills of assassination. He was also taught how to use both hands, each containing a different weapon, to fight at the same time. This was usually done with one hand holding the Astral Blade or some other melee weapon form, and the other holding either a Flame Sword or an Ice Axe, or a Flame Sword in one hand and an Ice Axe in the other. Also, after learning how to successfully launch Sonic Blasts with his weapon, he learned how to use it without it. He had been shown the usefulness of the skill, mainly by having bullet proof glass brought to him and shown how bullets could not break it, but hi-frequency sounds could.

He learned every possible tactic that could be used in battle, including a 3-finger strike to the throat, drowning a person in an ounce of water, geometry vectors to "bounce" attacks, to the location of vital organs and nerves.

Agent Marco, during that time, had maintained a no-nonsense attitude along with a steely glare throughout the entire course of the learning period, only losing it slightly during brief periods of rest.

During the brief periods of rest, the two would play games such as chess, pool, marbles, and poker. Unbeknownst to Phil, it was actually all part of his training, teaching him physics, psychology, probability, and foresight.

Eventually, the aliens in the Omega Sector proved too weak to him, so he was sent to train on the monsters in the deeper part of the Ludibrium Clock Tower. He was told that the climb up through Eos Tower was good training, and the journey up and down the Tower would teach him patience, though he was given Command Center Warp Capsules and Ludibrium Warp Capsules.

He had also been issued another gadget—a watch. It looked like one of those expensive kinds, but it was just as complex as the rest of his equipment. Of course it told the time, but it housed several other functions as well. As Agent Marco had told him, it had a diamond buzz saw that could cut through some of the toughest materials. It also had a laser beam, though of course, was weaker than his regular weapon. It was said it was for cutting through material as well. Most of all, it had a GPS—Global Position System—built into it. It was apparently able to plot his location virtually anywhere in the world using 3 or more of the dozens of satellites that the Omega Sector had launched into orbit around the world in the past. Along with that, it had an electronic compass and radar. Finally, it was also able to send out a distress signal. He was also taught how to use every single function on the watch as well.

Of course, he still practiced the third job skills. Some were easy—much too easy, others fun, while yet others were hard and/or boring.

In the process of all this training, he reached his 120th level. He went to Leafre to get his 4th job advancement. He went to the priests a dozen times, each time wearing different armor, "disguised" as a Warrior, Pirate, Archer, Thief, and Magician.

"But wouldn't that be extremely hot and bulky?" Phil had asked when he was wearing the other armor over his suit.

"That is one of the many marvels of your suit. The way it is made, it can keep you cool in the hottest weather, and still keep you warm in a blizzard. That's part of its design. It is hard to explain how, but it can. You can wear your gloves; after all, they're just black gloves. The same thing goes for your shoes. You can keep your sunglasses; just don't wear it all the time. The watch looks normal as well. Just make sure you wear stuff that others normally wear."

"So I'll be wearing two pieces of armor."

Agent Marco nodded.

He had to do the advancement tests 12 times; he was not given any Scrolls of Secrets, for he was told that the tests would "help him." He also fought Frostprey and Phoenix, went to the Lower Part of the Clock Tower to meet Thantos, and everything else to obtain the other skills. It took him more than two weeks to complete all of this. Although Phil did not know it, he had actually met Celina once at Leafre. He had been talking to Legor, and Celina had been talking to Gritto. Neither person knew the other, however.

Of course, others things happened too. After the first month of his training, there was news that Empress Cygnus, Ninehart, and the Cygnus Knights Leaders—Irena, Oz, Hawkeye, Eckhart, and Mikhail—had appeared. A few months after that, there was a celebration of the awakening of one the heroes on the past, Aran. During both times, people flocked to Ereve and Rien to visit them. And of course, there were reports about the Black Magician's subordinates, so everyone was on red alert, looking out for the Black Magician.

"Why do I have to go through all of this hard training?" Phil asked one time.

"As I have said in the past," said Agent Marco, "It is to prepare you for the future." Phil was about to say something, but Marco held up a hand to stop him. "Yes, I know. I have asked myself the same question when I was your age, and when I was training, whether to become or when I was an Agent."

"So what was your conclusion?"

"The best I can say is…for the future. After all, it is best to be prepared, even if nothing will actually happen. It builds your confidence. And does it not also help with your pride?"

"I… guess so."

"The Adventurers strive to become the best Archer, Magician, Pirate, Thief, or Warrior that they can be, and maybe even the best in the world, even if nobody is attempting to take over the world. Yet."

"So you're saying," said Phil, "That someone _will_ take try to take over the world in the future?"

"May or may not. Nobody knows. None of the other Adventurers, or the coming Cygnus Knights, knows if someone will try to take over the world, yet they still train. Of course, there have been psychos whom have attempted it… Aran fought one. The one you've heard about, and everyone is saying in whispers: the Black Magician. And they are preparing; the Cygnus Knights are preparing for an attack from the Black Magician. All signs point to the fact that the Black Magician may eventually rise back up. This is a 'may,' as it is of probability. But in case it happens, then you'll be prepared."

Phil nodded thoughtfully, and then went back to his training.

When the six months were over, Phil had reached his 130th level.

He knew he had become several times more powerful than when he had first come here. He had not really realized it much, but, when he looked back to the day when he had first arrived at the Omega Sector (when he wanted to press all the cool looking buttons), he saw that he had grown, physically and mentally.

Agent Marco told him that he could leave the Omega Sector for a while and have a "vacation." In other words, he was returning to civilization. However, he was also told that he might "be called to duty at a moments notice"

"You have learned enough for now. You may return to Victoria Island."

"But…won't people think I'm weird, dressed in black; have these sunglasses and receivers, this Laser Rifle, and everything else in the public?"

"You are to leave most of your gadgets here. Or rather, at the Nautilus.

"I guess it all makes sense…but what about the skills of the Agent? Plus, I also know every skill of every class."

"Just choose one class and one of its paths…let's see, do you remember what you were most known by before you came here?"

"Uh…I think Crossbowman," Phil said, pacing around on the grass. "Or, at least, I carried a Crossbow around a lot. I liked shooting arrows. Because, uhm, they were lighter than stars, and I think Crossbows looked cooler, in some way. I don't remember anymore." He stopped moving.

"So it looks like you will be a Sniper. Or a Marksman. You'll also need to have a 'story' on why you were gone for such a long time. Perhaps you could say you went to live with a family member. Any brothers or sisters?"

Phil shook his head. Then Phil said "Oh, yeah, I have a cousin. She's a Cleric I think. Though she may be a Priest or Bishop by now."

"That'll work," said Agent Marco. "You can probably say she needed you, or you needed her or something like that. But once you make a story, stick with it. It'll be your 'cover.' Don't change a single detail. You remember what I taught you about espionage and deception, right?"

"Yeah," replied Phil. "So that'll be what I tell people who ask me, right?"

"Yes."

It wasn't hard, since he had lived with her before, when he was little. He spent the rest of the day memorizing details, making up stories related to it, acting "normal," not using any of the skills outside of what a Marksman would learn, and keeping his weapon in the form of a Void Hunter.

The next day, he was all set to leave. He was given a Blue Arnah Cap, a Blue Arzuna, and a pair of Dark Shards, which had been made by Spindle.

As he was about to go through the Warp Portal, Agent Marco told him to use the other skills, especially the Agents', in "only the most dire, extreme, and life threatening circumstances." In other words, let the minimal amount of people know what he was truly capable of.

He then passed through the Portal, and reappeared in the Nautilus. He handed most of his equipment to Kyrin, including the receivers, his Laser Rifle, and laser pistol.

"You know," said Kyrin. "Your watch there also contains a two-way radio."

"It does?"

The leader of the Pirates nodded. "It has a direct link to the Omega Sector and the Nautilus. The microphone is somewhere; I'm not sure where, though it shouldn't be too hard to be heard with such a small device."

Phil thanked her and left the Nautilus. On the way, he bought a couple of potions from Gali, though it was completely unnecessary. His level and "expertise" of the skills allowed him to recover both Health and Mana.

He walked along the Henesys grounds, enjoying the grass and the trees that grew all around. The monsters meant nothing to him. He remembered that, when he was little, he had feared these monsters so much he didn't dare go anywhere other than the general area of Henesys and the first training ground without another person. Now everything seemed so…insignificant.

He strolled through Henesys slowly, taking in everything around him. He had not been here for what he seemed like ages.

Looking around, he saw very few people. _No matter,_ he thought. After all, it was just a vacation.

-X-

"I think it's him!" whispered Evelyne.

"Who?" asked Celina.

"That guy there, walking slowly. The other one I saved from Pig Beach. I'm gonna go get him."

Before Celina had a chance to say anything, Evelyne flash jumped over to where Phil was. However, she ended up falling flat on her face. Phil had instinctively teleported to one side when he felt a new entity was coming at him.

"Who in the world are you?" Phil asked, looking down at her.

She looked up at him. "Don't you remember me? I'm Evelyne!" she exclaimed.

_Evelyne…_He looked at her, and then suddenly remembered the pink hair, the blue eyes, the attitude, and the voice…

"You're the one who saved me and another guy at Pig Beach?" he asked, helping her up.

"Of course! Who else?"

"And you actually remembered me?"

"Of course I'd remember you!" Evelyne said. Phil looked around and saw another person, obviously a Magician, and older than Evelyne, teleport towards him.

_Shoot,_ he thought. _I've already made a crucial mistake…hope neither of them realized it._

Evelyne had no idea why she had missed her "target," but Celina had paid closer attention. After all, she was a Magician herself, and had watched everything happen. From the fancy-looking Crossbow, it would be assumed that he was a Sniper.

_Did that Sniper…just use a Magician's Skill?_ Celina shrugged it off, convincing herself that it was the effect of an Archer's high dexterity and/or the effect of Evasion Booster. But something still didn't seem right.

Evelyne, on the other hand, had already forgotten everything that had just happened to hadn't given a second thought to it, and was already introducing Celina to him.

"Hey, Philly. This is my friend, Celina," she said, pointing to the Priest.

"How do you do?" He asked.

"What level are you?" Evelyne asked Phil.

"130," he answered honestly.

"Wow. I just turned 121," replied Celina. "And Miss Lazy here," she said, pointing to Evelyne, "Is only 99."

Evelyne scowled when Celina referred to her as "Miss Lazy," but said nothing.

"Well, I train a lot. Don't worry," said Phil, smiling. "You'll get there soon enough."

"Can you help me?" Evelyne cooed, while hugging and caressing him at the same time while looking at him with puppy-dog eyes.

"Of course I will help you. That's what friends are for." Then he added "And you don't have to do that to get me to help," as he pushed her away from him as gently as possible.

"So," Phil said finally. "What should we train on?"

"I think we should try the snails over at the Henesys Hunting Grounds. Miss Lazy probably needs to get used to training once again. After all, she is the lowest level of us all."

"I'm a Hermit!" Evelyne blurted. "We can go to El Nath!"

"And get killed by a Snowman?"

"Well…"

Celina looked at Phil, and said "I think he can be a substitute for him," and then laughed.

"Who's 'him'?" Phil asked curiously.

"Oh, we haven't told you about him yet," laughed Evelyne. "Remember Brent? The other guy who was with you at Pig Beach?"

"Oh, yeah. When you saved us. From that other annoying Assassin."

Evelyne turned to Celina and said, "See! Philly remembers!"

"Philly?" Celina said.

His face turned slightly pink.

She turned back to Phil and continued. "Ok, so one day, Celina dragged me over to El Nath and forced me to train. Then, in the middle of training, this huge Snowman came sliding toward us. It chases us and blocked the only way back to El Nath. Finally, Brent came and rescued us from it, though neither of us knew it at first."

Phil smiled and fired six arrows into the ground. "It looks like I can handle those monsters."

"So what are we waiting for?" asked Evelyne. "Screw the snails."

Several minutes later, the three were once again in the freezing region of El Nath.

"So," Celina asked Phil. "How do you feel about becoming a fourth jobber?"

"It's…ok," he replied. "Nice to learn of these hard, new skills. But I'm constantly reminded of my responsibility."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"I remember what Legor had told me… about the monsters." He fired six arrows at a Jr. Yeti. "But the words I most remember are 'Not everyone can be…free.'"

"Where were you during the entire time?" asked Evelyne, changing the subject. "I never saw you."

"I was…at my cousin's," lied Phil. "She needed some help. And since she had taken care of me in the past, I, of course, agreed." The first 11 words of the last sentence was actually true.

Evelyne nodded, shouting "Lucky Seven!" as 4 Steelies killed another Jr. Yeti.

"Hey, that's a cool looking Crossbow," said Celina, seeing his Void Hunter.

Phil laughed. "And you only noticed it now?"

"I was actually paying more attention to where your arrows were going to land," said Celina.

"Do you think another, uhm, Snowman, will come?" Phil asked Celina and Evelyne.

"How about a Yeti and Pepe?" Evelyne asked as a shadow was cast over the three."

The other two turned around and saw a Yeti and Pepe looming above them.

"Fight or Flight?" Celina asked as the three dodged a ground pound from the Yeti.

"We're powerful enough," replied Phil. "Fight." He aimed his Void Hunter upwards. "Soul Arrow, Strafe!"

He sank six arrows into the Yeti.

"Angel's Ray!" commanded Celina, as a spectral arrow struck the monster.

"Lucky Seven!"

"Strafe!"

"Is strafe all you know?" asked Evelyne as she dodged another attack from the Yeti's fists.

"Dragon Pulse!" The bolt slammed into the Yeti, forcing it backwards several feet.

"Don't you know frostprey?"

"Yeah, but I don't think it would be much help here. Puppet!" The summoned "doppelganger" took the following blow of the beast.

Celina tossed a Summoning Rock to Phil and shouted "Summon something! Like Golden Eagle!"

Phil, however, did not, in fear that he would summon Silver Hawk, Phoenix, Ifrit, Elquines, Bahamut, Gaviota, or something else instead. How he wished he could use fire magic; he could fry everything here in a heartbeat.

"Summon it! Why don't you summon it?"

"Puppet!" he commanded instead. "Strafe!" He continuously fired salvos of arrows, along with Celina bombarding it with holy magic and Evelyne riddling it with stars, until the Pepe broke off from the Yeti.

Aiming his weapon at the Yeti, he commanded "Snipe!" The arrow flew straight and true, killing the beast immediately. Meanwhile, Celina and Evelyne, upon hearing Phil shout "Snipe," sent their attacks to the Pepe, making short work on it.

"You know snipe? Why didn't you use it in the first place?" asked Celina.

Rather than replying he walked over to Celina and returned the Summoning Rock to her. Celina gave him a strange look, but said nothing. _He doesn't fight like a Bowman,_ thought Celina. Usually, one would madly fire Strafe, Eruption, Mortal Blow, and summon one Puppet after another. One would also call upon Golden Eagle to aid him or her, and cast Sharp Eyes. He didn't do any of that.

All thoughts were immediately put aside as they heard someone shout "Hey, what's up?"

Everyone turned around to see a Warrior carrying a Blue Screamer.

"Brent!" exclaimed Evelyne.

"Look's like you got a new friend there," said Brent.

"This is Phil. Don't you remember? At Pig Beach."

"Hey, there," said Brent as he shook hands with Phil. "She your girlfriend?" he said, pointing to Evelyne.

"I don't have a girlfriend," muttered Phil.

"So you say."

"What level are you?" Phil asked.

"150 exactly," he replied. Before anyone could ask him a question, he added, "I train a lot."

"I thought you were in Leafre," said Celina.

"Been there, done that." He turned to a Jr. Yeti and shouted "Monster Magnet!" An invisible force pulled the wandering monster over to him, which he finished off with Intrepid Slash.

"It's nice to be a 4th jobber," Brent said afterwards.

"Only Evelyne doesn't know what it feels like," replied Celina.

"Hey, I'm getting there," pouted Evelyne.

Suddenly, Phil's watch began flashing red.

"Uhm, I, uh, got an appointment," he said. "It's urgent."

"With your cousin?" asked Celina.

"Well, no. Someone else. A doctor."

"Well, see you later."

"Bye Philly!"

He rushed away just as he heard Brent mutter "Philly?" and also ask Celina "He has a cousin?"

-X-

When he got out to the El Nath Market, he heard the speaker say, "Are you alone?" It was Jr. Officer Medin's voice.

Phil looked around and, seeing no one, said "Yeah."

"We have an urgent task for you. Someone in Orbis Tower, 13th floor, is taking heavy damage from Ice Sentinels. She is too weak to fight them; you need to save her."

"So this is being 'called to duty in a moment's notice.'" He said, still running toward Orbis Tower.

"Yes."

He did not say anything else as he teleported himself upwards. There was no one else around, so he did not fear of having his cover blown. He had changed his weapon to an Andromeda Bow.

-X-

_Why did I even come to Orbis in the first place?_ thought the Warrior, propped up against a wall. She no longer had the strength to fight, or even stand up. All she could do was lie there and accept the attacks from the floating spheres around her. _I'm only level 21. I came to fight the Jr. Sentinels. Why did I have to come to this spot in Orbis Tower? I wanted to see the view of Orbis. Now, surrounded these monsters, I'm going to die. I'm too young to die! I'm—"_

"Inferno!" A salvo of blazing arrows flew through the 13th floor of Orbis tower, incinerating the Ice Sentinels that had been attacking her.

_Someone's here! Someone high leveled enough to fight Ice Sentinels! I'm saved!_

"Arrow Rain!" Hundreds of blue shards rained down, piercing the remaining blue spheres as they broke apart.

"What level are you?" Phil asked the female Warrior.

"21," she managed to utter. She was too dazed, both by the monsters that had attacked her and the arrival of a rescuer.

Phil looked at her. She wore a Brown Lamelle and Brown Ramel Skirt, Brown High Boots, and a Brown Baseball Cap. Her Sabre and Steel Shield lay at her side.

"You shouldn't be training here," he said. "You should be back in Victoria Island."

"Yeah, I know." She had her head down.

"C'mon, let's get you out of the Tower." She picked up her equipment and he led her up Orbis Tower, destroying whatever Sentinels there were. He then took her to the port. There were no other passengers there.

"What about the Crimson Balrogs," she asked when they got there.

"What?"

"The Crimson Balrogs. What if they attack the ship? There's no one else. Can you come with me?" she asked, holding onto him, refusing to let him leave.

He looked at her, then at the ship. _Well, she just came out certain death. It would be a cruel joke for her to die on her way back. And I don't have anything else to do at the moment._

"Alright," he finally said.

No more than 5 minutes after the ship had left, another one appeared over the horizon—a black one, with huge steel spikes all over it. It carried a number of Crimson Balrogs.

The Warrior was too horrified to react, not able to comprehend that this was actually happening.

Phil sighed. He would have to take them out. He turned to look at the Warrior. She was petrified with fear. The first of the Balrogs came out of the ship and hovered towards them.

He raised his Andromeda Bow and commanded "Soul Arrow, strafe!" and sank four arrows into the beast.

It raised a claw at him, but before it could strike, he screamed "Hurricane!" Dozens of arrows flew from his bow and slammed into the Crimson Balrog. It gave a cry of pain before it fell.

Three more Crimson Balrogs were now coming towards him, obviously angered at the death of their comrade.

A dark lightning bolt flew towards the ship from one of the beasts. The blast of energy knocked the Warrior off the ship. The Crimson Balrog was still there, as if smiling. With gritted teeth he leapt off the ship after her. He managed grab hold of her with his left arm and simultaneously pulled out his laser pistol and fired the grappling hook, which caught the ship. She was unaware of all this—her eyes were wide as she stared down, almost fainting.

During the entire time, he had fired laser beams at the Balrogs. It wasn't much, but they were unexpected. When they got back on the ship, another blast of dark lightning was fired at them. This time she really fainted as he commanded "Puppet!" The summoned doll took most of the damage from the attack.

He glanced at her, and rushed her into the hold. He looked around; there was no one near enough to see or hear him, other than the monsters. The Warrior was unconscious, the ship's pilot was more than likely to be madly trying to keep the ship upright.

He could go all out.

His weapon suddenly a sword, he commanded "Holy Charge!" He leaped forward and shouted "Intrepid Slash!" striking the Balrog three times in quick succession.

"Charged Blow!" A flash of energy exploded from his weapon, stunning the Crimson Balrogs.

Seeing that the charge was still intact, he screamed "Heaven's Hammer!" just as they recovered from the stun. Brilliant shafts of light fell from the sky, striking the Balrogs forcefully with holy energy.

The beasts disappeared into the void, just as another black ship appeared._ More?_

The Balrogs from the new ship came, fear replaced by anger, as they sought to destroy this man.

He wished he had his Laser Rifle with him. If he did, he could destroy all these freaks (at least, they were freaks to him) in a heartbeat.

Meanwhile, though angered, many of the Crimson Balrogs were confused. How could a man use so many different skills? In all their encounters, they had never met someone who could do more than use a single weapon.

"Phoenix!" he commanded. The bird, with flames leaping from its wings, materialized in the air. He teleported onto it and took off.

Bow in hand, he stood up and shouted "Arrow Rain!" Blue shards fell from the sky, striking a number of Crimson Balrogs.

"Air Strike!" A dozen Gaviotas appeared, bombarding the Balrogs with explosives, and then disappeared as quickly as they came.

_Kill him at all costs!_ He heard one of the Balrogs say.

_These guys are a lot more stupid than I thought,_ thought Phil.

"Dragon Roar!" The shockwave tore through the air, hitting every single Balrog in sight, either killing them or seriously wounding and stunning them.

"Genesis!" That did it. The arte killed every Balrog and blew apart both of their ships. He watched his work with grim satisfaction; he not able to believe he had done all of this. He nudged the bird toward the ship. It landed on the ship, and vanished in a burst of flame.

He entered the hold, where the Warrior had woken up.

"How are you?" he asked.

"You saved my life again!" she gasped, and ran over to him.

"Don't mention it," he said, smiling. "And don't go running off again. There might not be someone there to save you. Stick to the monsters you usually train on," he said as the ship touched down in Ellinia. The two got off.

She nodded, still staring and holding onto him. "I wish I was as powerful as you. You were awesome!"

He smiled and said "You will be, someday, if you keep training," he replied, placing a hand on her shoulder.

His watch suddenly flashed red again, and he said "Excuse me. I have to talk to someone."

As Phil talked with Jr. Officer Medin, he glanced back to her. She was staring off into space, lost in her own thoughts.

"A guy in Sleepywood?"

"Yes," replied Medin. "He's sort of trapped in there; he went and he's not powerful enough to fight his way out."

He sighed. "I'm going there."

He walked back to her and said "I have to meet someone in Sleepywood. See ya." He handed her a couple potions.

She looked at him dreamily as she watched him walk away.

-X-

"Sleepywood," he muttered. He ventured through the area until he found a Pirate, obviously an aspiring gunslinger, since he had a gun in his hands. He found him, and led him out of the dungeon, shooting down any monsters in the way.

"I wish I were as powerful as you were," the Pirate said when they got to the surface.

"You will someday," Phil said.

A minute after the Pirate left, he spoke into the watch, "How do you guys know about all this. Is it set-up and planned?"

"No," came the reply. "It's from the satellite feeds."

Just then, Phil heard a shout of "Hey! There you are!"

He turned around to see Brent, Celina, and Evelyne.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"We came to find you!" Evelyne replied.

He sighed. Nothing like a bunch of friends who followed you everywhere.

-X-

In the following days, he would often have to leave his friends at a moment's notice, making up excuses each time. They would eye him suspiciously and exchange looks, but they would quickly "forgive" him. They would occasionally ask him why this happened so often, and his reply would always be "It just does."

With each rescue, he would leave (and make an excuse), rush over to where the person was, save him or her, have that person follow him, and later that person would exclaim how he or she aspired to become as powerful as he was, and he would assure them that someday they would. After each rescue, however, he would return to his friends and they would train together once more, with everything returning to "normal."

They were like a permanent party, training together. The four were inseparable. Or so it seemed.

Finally, the day came when Phil was called back to the Omega Sector. The four were at the Fusion Bar in Kerning City, a "celebration" for Evelyne reaching fourth job. The four had just reached Kerning City

"OK," replied Phil. Looking at Celina, he said "I just hope neither of you get drunk, and I'm not drinking that stuff. I like lemonade better."

"How about the beer that looks like lemonade?" Celina asked sassily.

"I'm not drinking that either"

Phil looked at Brent. "Don't look at me," said the Warrior, holding his hands up. "I don't drink, and I don't intend to either. It inhibits my training."

The four glasses were just clinking when there was a beeping noise. Phil excused himself and went outside, Evelyne and Celina exchanging looks, while Brent wondered what was going on.

"We need you back," the voice from his watch said. "There have been signs of the aliens planning an invasion."

"Invasion?"

"Yes. We will tell you the full details when you return."

"When do I come?"

"You leave for the Omega Sector tomorrow."

He sighed. So this was it.

"Are you with any of your friends?" asked the voice.

"Yes," replied Phil.

"Are you well acquainted with them?"

"A little too well," sighed Phil.

"Alright. You can't go through the Warp Portal. We can't make them think you just disappeared." There was a pause before the voice continued. "You will leave by ship, at Ellinia. It will take slightly longer, but it's worth it. You left your equipment at the Nautilus, correct?"

"Yes,"

"We will get your equipment for you. Leave by ship tomorrow."

"Yes, sir."

The four met at Ellinia the next day.

The next day, they met in Ellinia, and Phil told Celina and Evelyne that he needed to leave. Where or why, he did not tell them.

"Don't come looking for me. You won't be able to find me."

"Why do you have to go?" Evelyne asked.

"Someday… you will understand," he replied.

"Will we ever see you again?"

"What do you think?" he smiled quietly.

"Yes," she replied, a tear running down her cheek.

"Then we will see each other again."

"It's been nice training with you," said Brent, walking forward. "You were truly awesome" The two shook hands and patted each others' back.

"Why can't you tell us where you're going. Or why?" asked Celina.

"Because it's a secret. If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret anymore." He smiled sadly.

They watched him walk towards the airship, board it, and leave.

"Well, let's go home now," said Celina. "We've got more things to do. C'mon Brent." Brent followed them.

"Yeah, Evelyne," said Brent. "You've got more levels to gain."


	6. Space Invaders

Ch. 6: Space Invaders

Phil didn't believe that the training could get any harder, but it did.

His training became harder than he could ever have imagined. He was eventually able to do a hundred sit-ups in 2 minutes, a hundred push-ups in 2 minutes, swim a thousand yards in 8 minutes, and, without any weapons, fight as effectively as those with weapons.

Everyday he would have to run a few dozen miles and swim around the island of the Omega Sector in cold water (while often being attack by aliens when he got to the east side) as a "warm up". On the bright side, he would sometimes catch some fish for breakfast or some other meal. He was made to do the monkey-bars. His training also consisted of having his hands tied behind his back and, at first, bringing them forward under his feet in the midst of a fight, and finally fighting effectively without them. He would be blindfolded, having to predict attacks using his ears only. He would also have to fight with his legs and feet tied together.

With each of the previously stated exercises, he would carry more and more weight with him as time passed, eventually reaching 300 pounds, the "usual" weight, whether he was running, swimming, or doing monkey-bars.

"An Agent," Marco once said. "is never left with nothing."

As his training progressed, more and more information was obtained about the aliens' true motives and objectives.

He was driven mercilessly and relentlessly. At times he would feel as if Agent Marco and the rest of the Omega Sector were training him to be a killing machine, annihilating everything in his path, unstoppable…

He quickly turned his thoughts back to the training and the not-so-far-away alien invasion. He was soon timed to see how fast he could climb up Eos Tower while fighting the monsters inside, though the monsters that inhabited the tower proved to be no match against the Agent-in-training. Other times he felt he would faint or pass out, while during the most intense training sessions he wished he were dead, training non-stop for so long. He would often remind himself of how Brent trained. _If he can train for 20 hours straight, why can't I as well?_

He still had no idea what all this training would lead too. Was it all for the alien invasion? Or would there be something more?

On a night with a full moon, he stood there, watching the scintillating stars. He had too many questions, so many that there would be too many questions left unanswered. Ancient ones like "what is the meaning of life?" and "What is my purpose here on this world?"

He stared at the stars, hoping they would provide him with an answer, or at least, maybe a hint. But they just continued emitting their rays from who-knows how far away.

He sighed and looked at the ground. The grass which had grown to the height where it reached his knees, didn't give him any answers or clues either. It just swayed from a zephyr.

He looked around, then at himself. He was fully dressed in all his Agent equipment—the suit, shoes, receivers, gloves, and sunglasses. He stood in the relaxed position—the Laser Rifle held horizontally. He had his utility belt, holding dozens of items, including the pistol, rockets, and bombs. He also had the Astral Blade in its sheath.

He had so many questions, he didn't know where to start, and when it would end; there was no outside or inside—like a Möbius strip.

The simple word, questions. It encompassed an infinite number of subjects.

He looked at all his equipment again. "These tools, gadgets, are just to help an Agent accomplish his task, whatever mission that lied before him," Marco had also said. "The greatest weapon, however, is the human mind."

Seeing all the great power bestowed upon him, he suddenly had another question. _Why me? Why am I the one doing all this heavy-lifting? Why am I the one to become an Agent?_

He heard a voice; he was unable to make out even one word. He immediately turned to attack position—the weapon held 45 degrees—and executed the whirl movement—with the weapon still in attack position. He thought maybe that Marco had come out and sneaked up on him. Everyone else had gone to sleep already; he was alone out here. But there was no one and no other sound, save for the howling of the wind.

He paced around the field, and ended up wading aimlessly through the knee-deep grass.

He stopped walking and hitched the weapon across his back. He pulled out his Astral Blade, staring at it. He made it transform into a Nebula Dagger.

_Why is all this power bestowed unto me?_ There were millions of others who strived for power every day, every moment. Those who wanted to wanted to make a name for themselves in the world, to become the best in the world. There were others would give anything for even a fraction of the power he now possessed. Why me? Why?

_Not everyone can be…free._

He looked up back at the stars. Seeing he was not getting any answers, he headed back to the building and returned to his room.

-X-

More and more information was collected on what the aliens were doing, until finally it became clear.

"Their primary target is Leafre," they discovered. "They plan to attack the priests and halt the fourth job advancements."

"Fourth job?"

"Yes."

"_Fourth Job?_ Are they serious? Why fourth job? Why not third, second, or first? Do they even know what they're doing?"

"I don't know. All we know is that they're attacking Leafre. So that's where you need to go."

"Why can't we just take them out right here?"

"That's the problem," sighed Agent Marco. "A large number of them have already left Ludas Lake. We're not sure where they went, but probably to a sparsely populated place that is closer to Leafre."

General Maestro came in. "On the day of the invasion, you will board a dropship piloted by Robinson. He will take you to Leafre. From there, you must prevent the aliens from achieving their objective."

Agent Marco stepped forward. "There is one more skill that I would like to teach you. It will only be level one, but I believe it will come in handy."

-X-

Finally, the day came. He was said to leave an hour earlier than the time that the invasion was said to start. As he was boarding the dropship (fully equipped), Agent Marco came over and whispered something to him.

"In the event of…you…"

Phil nodded several times. "Okay?" asked Agent Marco.

"Yes, sir, I will."

Phil had recently sent a letter to his friends, Brent, Celina, and Evelyne, requesting them for "help." Actually, the letter hadn't directly asked for any of their help. Instead, it talked about a "reunion" at Leafre. He knew that they would say yes and head to Leafre. They just didn't know what was in store for them. He had ultimately decided that since he was going to reveal himself someday to them; this might as well be the time.

-X-

"There's nobody here," Evelyne muttered, staring at the ground and kicking the sand. "Didn't he say he would meet us here?"

Celina pulled out the letter and reread it. "That's what he said. Or rather, wrote."

When they had first received the letter, Evelyne had literally dragged Celina out of Henesys, where the three were "resting," saying "C'mon. We're going to see him," as Brent reluctantly followed

"What if it's trick!" Evelyne yelled suddenly, turning around, grabbing Celina and shaking her. "What if he had no intention of coming? Or what if it's a fake letter! Written by someone else?!"

"Who would know our names and want to make us come to Leafre?" replied Celina, brushing dust off herself.

Brent had been silent the entire time, watching them while standing still.

Evelyne turned toward him and said "What do you think?"

"He wouldn't lie," replied Brent. "Perhaps he's running late. Or maybe in a different location."

There was a sudden rustling of trees.

"Maybe that's Phil," said Celina.

One Gray appeared, and then another.

"I don't think that's Phil," replied Evelyne.

-X-

"The aliens are advancing quickly," said Robinson, glancing at the radar.

"At least you won't have to do any of the fighting. That's my job. All you have to worry about is getting me there," Phil replied.

"Yeah, well, we could get amb—" He didn't get to finish his sentence. Suddenly, the dropship rocked violently. Robinson swore, he muttered "We're hit," while looking at the readings.

"This thing has shields, right?"

"If you're talking about the force fields like the one you summon, yes, but somewhat limited."

The ship rocked again. "Shoot. Their weapons are too strong for our shields."

"So we'll eventually get blown up?"

"That seems to be the case."

"I'm going out."

"Out to what?"

"Fight 'em."

"You're crazy. No one can a fight spacecrafts alone without weapons from a vehicle.

"You haven't been watching me train, have you?" Phil replied with a grin.

"Don't. You'll get blown up. Besides, there's too many of them." Phil wasn't listening. He had already opened the hatch and was climbing outside.

"Just drive," Phil shouted back at Robinson. Robinson sighed.

He steadied his Laser Rifle and aimed it at the nearest aircraft. It fired at him and he ducked. Looking through the scope, he saw the following words appear.

TARGET ACQUIRED as the crosshairs moved around the scope.

TARGET LOCKED-ON and the crosshairs settled.

The crosshairs turned red as the words FIRE WHEN READY appeared.

He pressed one of the triggers.

The rocket fired from his weapon impacted against the closest ship, blowing it up.

The second alien ship fired at him, but instead missed him and hit the dropship. Phil fired a few more rounds of the lasers with his weapon, eliminating about a fourth of the enemy ships, and then retreated back inside the ship.

He continued to hear Robinson cussing as he muttered "We've go engine failure."

"What do we do?" Phil asked him. Robinson didn't respond.

Phil read the readings himself and smiled grimly. "The shields are down, too."

"How can you be so calm?" Robinson said to him, almost shouting.

Phil didn't reply. Instead, he said, "I think we're close enough to Leafre. Let's jump."

"Jump? You really are crazy. No one else has jumped before."

"Well, there's a first time for everything."

He climbed out of the cockpit again and saw the ship approaching the trees. _Good thing Ludas Lake is so close to Minar Forest._

Unfortunately, Robinson slipped and fell into the ocean, though he was very much alive.

_It's a long swim back to Ludas Lake,_ thought Phil. Though, on the bright side, Robinson had a warp capsule, which he used at once.

Now it was Phil's turn to jump. He ended up crashing through the thick growth of trees. He landed flat on the spot right between the incoming aliens and his old friends.

"Who are—" asked Celina as Phil lifted his head.

"Philly? Why are you dressed like that?" asked Evelyne

"Long story," he said, a little too quickly, as his face reddened.

"And what are those things?" Celina asked him, pointing at the aliens.

"Aliens. They mean bad news," he replied. "Kill them!"

Suddenly, a number of Grays started firing attacks at them.

"Force Field!" A translucent barrier appeared out of thin air and blocked the attack.

"How did you…"

"They're attempting to kill the priests! We have to stop them."

They could hear a no-nonsense tone in his voice and began attacking the aliens.

Phil grabbed his Andromeda Bow and started a Hurricane attack, sweeping left and right, mowing down aliens. Evelyne hurled stars, Celina cast spells, and Brent slashed through the sea of aliens. There seemed to be no end in sight, however, as more and more aliens began to appear.

Brent and Phil moved forward and took the brunt of the attacks. Evelyne and Celina moved to the main "entrance" to Leafre and the priests. Meanwhile, more and more aliens came—Mateons, Plateons Mecateons, MT-09s, Barnard Grays, Zeta Grays, Ultra Grays, and even a few Chief Grays. Obviously, they were counting on overwhelming the opposition with sheer numbers.

Phil continued using Hurricane, and the others attacked with their most powerful skills as well; Brent would use Rush every once in a while and return to his spot.

They were killing hundreds of the aliens every minute. But there were just too many of them.

_They've already seen me use Force Field; won't matter much if I use anything else._

He suddenly stopped firing arrows, sheathed his Andromeda Bow, and pulled out his Laser Rifle.

"What is that?" Brent asked, glancing at him as he continued slicing apart aliens.

Phil didn't reply to his question. "Laser Charge, Laser Drill!" A beam of light shot out of his Rifle, slicing through legion the area and killing hundreds of aliens.

He was now using Rapid Blast, killing the aliens faster than ever. And still they came.

"Evelyne! Celina! Come over here!" Evelyne and Celina quickly responded and rushed over to where Phil and Brent was, all the while attacking.

"Why?" they both asked. They moved anyway, still attacking.

"Nova Bomb!" he screamed. There was a colossal explosion, killing about 90% of the aliens. It left a sizable crater, though it wasn't too deep. Phil, however, had fainted from the enormous amount of energy required to use the attack.

_This skill is amazingly powerful,_ Marco had said. _But the energy needed to cast it is a great deal as well._

Then, a massive robot appeared. It looked just like the MT-09s. Etched into the front of it, however, was MT-10.

Somehow, he was able to muster the energy for one more attack. "Laser Charge…LASER BLAST!" he roared. The recoil from the attack threw him backwards several feet, eventually causing him to slam into a tree. And through it, breaking the tree. The result of the violent attack completely blew apart the MT-10, sending bits of metal flying all over the place. The three ran over to him and placed him on the soft grass. They then finished the rest of the aliens.

A few minutes later, they returned to him. "Well, that's the last of them," said Brent in a satisfied tone. Phil stood up, only to collapse a second later. They looked over him. The MT-10 had fired a huge laser beam at him right before it exploded, which was now causing Phil to bleed profusely. The grass was becoming a dark crimson from the expanding pool of blood.

"I'm a Bishop," said Celina. "I'll heal you."

Brent and Evelyne remained silent, wishing they were a Paladin and Shadower instead.

"No," he replied, propping himself up with one hand. "The wound is too deep."

"I know resurrection, too." Celina added. He only smiled in that quiet was of his.

"Resurrection," he managed to sputter. "Is…only…an… advanced…healing arte. The wounds… are… too deep for it… let alone…Heal…and…Chakra.

He produced three cards. "These…are…warp cards…and…badges." His voice was failing him. "Go to… the… Nautilus…find Kyrin…and…" he suddenly collapsed again and closed his eyes. They knew he would never open again.

All three were quiet as they left. They knew they had to go to the Nautilus and find Kyrin.

But if anyone had looked back, they would've seen something amazing: Phil's body slowly, but surely, faded away, until there was nothing left. Blood, body, equipment, and all.


End file.
